Changing and Chances Book 1
by PhoenixMistress91
Summary: Ella Mason knew he was there to take her, but she couldn't help but feel compassion for this young man. She saw in his deep black eyes how hurt he truly was. Deep down somewhere inside he was a good person, he was just unsure of himself. But what Ella didn't know was, she would be the one to bring out his good side. Snape/OC
1. Prologue: Asking For Help

Prologue: Asking For Help

**Disclaimer: **I do not own anything, Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling.

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Changing and Chances

Our story begins in a village on the border of England. The wizarding residence of this small little village was very slight in size. They lived hidden in a small clearing that encircled a tall forest that kept them out of view of most people. It was a perfect place to live for the villagers because the closed in surrounding kept out unwanted visitors, in this case muggles. Of course they still came across a few muggles who were either out camping, hiking or hunting in the forest nearby, but the wards they kept up made it so they passed by without a second glance.

It was a quiet night, maybe just a little bit too quiet. It had been that way for a few nights, almost like something was warning them to run and get away. The villagers couldn't keep themselves from feeling unsettled; after all, these were very bad times. Inside people watched as the snow slowly fell to the ground as they kept warm in their small cozy houses. They all felt it, that feeling of doom. It encompassed them, made them feel like they could not breathe. Something was coming, and it wasn't good. What they didn't know was that in a few sort hours, chaos would ensue, and not a single one of them would survive.

But before we get to that part of the story, we need to set our eyes upon a tiny house on the farthest corner of the village. It was more like a cottage than a house really, especially compared to all the other two story homes that were right next it. But the small size was never really a problem for the single father and his young daughter who lived there. In actuality it was the perfect fit for this small family, it kept them warm from the cold and the other villagers were very nice and friendly people. It was really the best place to live if you had a small little girl that you wanted to keep safe.

It was inside this little cottage like home that two men sat next to the fire sipping on a glass of firewhiskey. There was complete silence between the both, one just waiting for the other to bring up the reason why the other man was there. It was the owner of the house that decided to break the silence.

"I asked you to come see me John because I'm worried," he said this in a voice that explained that this was not a nice get together but business. "Sooner or later he's going to find her, and no matter how hard I can try to protect her, I can't fight him on my own."

"I understand how you are feeling old friend," the other tried to sympathize.

"No you don't, and don't you dare think you ever will! Your children don't have to be hidden from the world because who they are. No matter where Ella goes, she will never be safe. The minute people find out about her true heritage they will want to exploit it."

John sighed and tried to keep calm. They didn't need another fighting match like the last time they had talked.

"You're right Frank that I don't understand that aspect of the situation, but I do know if it were one of my kids that were being targeted; I would do everything in my power to protect them."

Frank loosened up when he heard his friend's words.

"You are right," Frank said in a much kinder tone. "I did not mean to get angry, it just I don't know what to do anymore. That's why I contacted you, I need your help."

"I will help you with whatever it is you need my friend?"

"I need you to take Ella for a while. I fear that she is not safe here anymore, even with the wards that have been put up around the house."

John was not shocked by what he was hearing, for a long time now he pleaded with Frank to leave England and stay with him in the America's. He was sure that his wife and children would not mind having them around for a while, but Frank expressed how he would not feel right making them go out of their way like that. John knew that it was only Frank's pride, but he respected his friend's wishes and never brought it up again.

"I figured as much," John said. "But what I can't figure out is why know? What makes you think she is not safe when not a couple of months ago you were sure you guys would not be found here?"

"I was given some valuable information from my grandfather. He told me that Voldemort was given information on a young girl that had very valuable gifts that he had been searching for, and he was told she was somewhere in this area. For weeks now he has been searching for this girl and has been getting closer and closer to our village. My grandfather wasn't sure that if it was Ella or not, but who else could it really be."

"What do you mean your grandfather?" John questioned Frank. "I thought you weren't talking to him. From what I remember you both had a falling out and haven't spoken in over twelve years."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," Frank grimaced almost as if it almost nearly killed him to ask his grandfather for help. "Besides, he loves Ella and would do anything for her, and it doesn't hurt that he is one of the most powerful wizard of the age and knows more about what's going on with this damn war than I do."

"Understandable," John said nodding his head. "So are you sure about this; that it is Ella that he is really after. Didn't you say that you had only a limited amount of knowledge on if it was really Ella he was referring to?"

Frank finished off the rest of his firewhiskey and looked straight into John's eyes. The pain and the tiredness that he was probably feeling for months was visibly shown on his face. At that moment John was overcome with a feel of guilt and regret, but there was nothing else he could do about it now.

"There's no doubt about it," Frank said as if that was the last thing he wanted to come out of his mouth. "It's just too much of a coincidence for it not to be true. I just think its best that she gets away from England until she can go to school. Once she is old enough to go to Hogwarts, she will be safe."

"How about you?" asked his friend. "Will you be okay?"

"I will be fine, they are after Ella. She's the one that needs protection, not me. I will stay here and help the cause, even though how much I don't believe in this war. I want to do everything I can to make sure it is safe for her to come back home."

"I haven't been there for you much over the last couple of years after Emma and I moved to the America's. If you need me to take Ella for a while, I'm sure the girls would love to have her around."

Frank's entire body was filled with relief that his little girl would be safe. All the stress he had been feeling for months slowly lifted away and made him feel at peace with himself, something he hasn't felt since the beginning of this whole ordeal.

"Thank you my friend, you do not know how much I owe you for this."

"You owe me nothing Frank. You know that we are like brothers, I would help you no matter what the problem or situation."

It was quiet between them again, but this time it was not an awkward silence, more like a comfortable one. The silence was broken by John who was trying to lighten up the gloomy mood that just seemed to never go away since the war began.

"Remember that one time you put the wrong ingredient into your potion and it ended up blowing up in Professor Slughorn's face. He had warts for a whole week until he was finally able to figure out what it was that went wrong with your potion."

Frank laughed for the first time in a long time. It had been a while since they were able to reminisce about their school days. With all the melancholy and fear that this war put around everyone, it was hard to remember what it was like to actually be happy.

"I remember that, all the kids started calling toad face that year. But please don't remind me about how dreadful I was in potions. I get enough of having to hear about the rotten subject from Ella. She says she can't wait for school to start so she can start learning how to brew."

"Now who would have thought that the daughter of the most horrible potion's student ever to grace Hogwarts would absolutely love it? That my friend is what I call ironic."

They laughed together like it was old times again. They talked a little more about their school days, and Frank asked about Emma and their daughters Katie and Alice. But in life, things never do last as long as we hope they would.

John looked down at his watch and saw how late it actually was and knew he was expected to be home soon. Frank saw what he was doing and smiled a small smile and stood up from his chair while John did the same.

"It's been nice being able to talk again, but I need to be heading home."

"Yes, I figured as much."

They gave each other a brotherly hug as a goodbye and John took out some floo powder and threw it in the now dimming fire.

"I'll be coming tomorrow to pick up Ella."

"Yes, that would be great," Frank said, but then was quiet for a moment. "I really appreciate what you are doing."

"There is no need," John said.

"Alright, I guess we will be seeing you tomorrow than," Frank said.

"Yep," John replied as he left through the green flames.

But what Frank didn't know was, that was the last time he would see his friend because by tomorrow, they would both be dead.


	2. Chapter 1: They Are Here

Chapter 1: They Are Here

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything, Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling.

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Changing and Chances

Later on that same day, Frank was still sitting by the fire; the embers slowly diminishing into nothing. He could not sleep, his mind was too full of his thoughts. He did not want to have to send Ella away, but if he wanted her to be safe he saw that there was no other choice. She would be out of harms way if she stayed with John and his family; he would protect her like she was his own, just like he would do John's kids. There was no one else he trusted more with his daughter.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Ella calling for him from the other room. Her voice had a high tone to it, so he got up off his chair in a rush hoping that she was fine. He stopped at her door that was closed and opened it. He was relieved to find that nothing was wrong and that Ella was safe in her bed. Ella was laying up looking outside the window with a strange look on her face that Frank couldn't place. The moon light shone through the window and showed the face of a beautiful little girl. She had long curly blonde hair, baby blue eyes that revealed an intelligence that was beyond her years, but her most distinctive feature was her ears; they were small and just a little pointed at the ends.

"What is it sweetheart?" her father asked once he was right next to her. "Did you have another bad dream?"

"No," she replied to her father. Her eyes took on a more curious look. "I was wondering what that loud noise was? Did you not hear it?"

"What noise sweetie?" he wasn't quite sure what she was talking about, it had been perfectly quiet all night long. "I didn't hear anything. Are you sure you weren't just having a bad dream?"

"No, it wasn't a dream," she argued, upset that her father would not listen to her. "It was a noise that came from outside. It sounded like someone screaming."

"Okay, I'll go and check it out," he said to reassure her.

He went to the window in her bedroom and opened it up to see if he could hear anything. A cold draft instantly came through the window making the room twice as chilly as it was before. He trained his ears to hear what Ella was talking about, but there was silence.

"I don't hear any..."

That's when he heard it, it was faint but he was sure it wasn't far off. He looked out the window to maybe get a view of what could possibly be going on, and what he saw froze his heart. There in the far off distance he could see death eaters swarming the streets of what was supposed to be a safe little village, and they seem to be causing terror one door to the other. They were dragging people out of their houses into the cold winter night. Some looked to be fighting them off, but the ones who did seemed to get a good dose of the Cruciatus Curse.

"Daddy, what is it?" Ella asked, instantly picking up on her father's mood.

Frank turned toward his daughter and knew what he had to do; he had to protect her with everything he had. He would not allow them to take her even if it meant that he would have to die.

"Ella," He said trying to be calm but also firm. "Remember when I told you about how some bad wizards were looking for you."

"Yes," she answered him nodding her head. "I remember. That's why we had to come and live here, so they wouldn't find us."

"Yes, that's right. Do you also remember what I told you when we got here?"

"You told me that if we were ever found, that I was too hide where you told me too and not come out unless Uncle John or you came and got me."

"That's right," he said in approval of her good memory.

"Why are you asking this dad?" Ella was confused. "Was that noise outside them, are the bad wizards here? Are they going to take me away?"

"Yes, they are here. But I will never let them take you away, do you understand me."

She nodded her head.

"Now, we need to get you somewhere safe before they get here."

With that said Frank wasted no time in helping his daughter down off her bed and hurrying her into the hallway. He opened the door to his study and went straight to a large painting next to his bookshelf.

"Daddy what are you doing?" Ella asked her father, not understanding how a painting could help her hide. She looked straight at it and was caught in the beauty of the portrait. She couldn't keep her eyes off of it. Slowly she felt herself rocking with the currant of the river that was now moving. Her eyes were closing shut and she felt on the verge of falling back to sleep.

"Oh, no you don't," said her father grabbing a hold of her and waking her up just in time before she hit the ground.

"What was that?" she asked with wide eyes.

"That was a spell I put up so no one could see what was really there. It will put someone in a deep sleep, and they won't be able to wake up for hours."

He waved his wand and the painting slowly materialized into what was now a door with a keyhole and knob. Ella was amazed, she had never seen that door there the other times she had come into her fathers study, it was always that painting of the moon over the river. She had no idea that you could actually conceal thing with magic.

She watched as her father fished through his robe pockets and finally came out with what looked to be a large brass key. He put the large key into the keyhole and turned the knob. Opening the door revealed a second door that was much smaller than the first.

"Dad, why are there two doors?"

"Because, the first door you just opens with a regular key, but I thought that wasn't good enough, so I made this other door. This door can't be opened with a key or a simple spell, the spell to open this one is very complex, one that a learned from an old book your grandfather gave me. Only very few people know it, so it will keep you safe."

"But can't they just blow the door away?"

"No sweetie, it is impossible to get into somewhere that way when wards are up. Now we don't have any more time for questions. When you get on the other side of this door, there will be a light switch on your right, turn that on before you move any further because you might fall down the stairs. There are no windows down there, so you are going to have to turn on another light when you get to the bottom."

"But won't they see the light."

"No, you will be perfectly safe down there."

She looked at her father with a very painful expression. He wasn't coming down there with her. Ella crushed herself to her father, tears rolling down her eyes. Frank held onto her just as tight, not wanting to let her go.

"What about you daddy?" she asked her father in a trembling voice. "Won't you get hurt?"

"I will be fine," he said, but it was obvious that he wasn't one hundred percent sure about that. "You just stay down there and keep very quiet. No matter what you hear, do not come out, do you hear me."

She nodded her head because she was unable to speak anymore.

He slowly released his daughter from his tight hold and got to work on the door. With one quick flick of his want and uttering of a spell that Ella put into memory, the small door swiftly opened. Once he was done, Frank looked back at his daughter. In his eyes you could see that he was afraid that this might be the last time he ever got to see her, but quickly shut that fear away. If he didn't go into this with a clear head, surely Ella and he would not survive.

"Now is the time to go inside," he said once he opened the door all the way. He gently pushed her into the small entrance. "Remember that I love you Sweetie."

"I love you too, Daddy," she said looking at him with a sad smile on her face that didn't reach her tear stained eyes.

He watched as she turned on the light and slowly went down the stairs. Once he knew she was safely down, he closed the door and locked it with a slightly different spell from the one he opened it with. With that door closed he locked the other larger door and put the sleeping spell onto it.

Now that he knew his daughter would be protected, he was ready to fight for both of their lives. No matter what, Frank prayed, please keep Ella safe.


	3. Chapter 2: Searching For Ella

Chapter 2: Searching For Ella

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything, Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling.

**I decided that the second chapter was way too long, and it just didn't feel right. So I decided I was going to cut it into three chapters all together. I really wanted more interaction with Severus and Ella and it felt like there wasn't enough. Now I will be able to do a little more with that. I'm not changing any of the chapters, I am only making the dialogue between Snape and Ella longer. Sorry if this inconveniences anyone. People who have already read the second chapter should wait until I post up chapter 4 and 5. I will be posting up chapter 4 tonight, and if I have time I will post up chapter 5 tomorrow or the next day. **

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Changing and Chances

Frank hardened his shoulders and his face turned almost rough. He was ready for whatever they would throw at him. It did not matter if they tortured him, beat him to a bloody pulp or threaten to kill him, he would not give them any idea that she was there. He was so distracted with trying to mentally prepare himself for what he was going to face that he forgot to turn off the light in his study, he also didn't close the door all the way.

He made his way into the living room and to his chair where he was sitting at only seven minutes ago.'Why tonight,' he thought to himself as he started another fire. 'Why couldn't it be tomorrow night when Ella wasn't here?' But that was fate for you, putting you into situations you just could not simply understand.

He sighed as he took down some of the wards on the house. It would not matter, the death eaters used dark magic and would most likely break down them down anyways. Besides it would make him look a lot less suspicious. Now all he had left to do was sit and wait for the death eaters to come and slam down his door like they did the rest of the villagers'. He put his wand away, knowing that he would not be using it that night.

It felt as if time were going by slowly when all he really wanted was for it to go faster. He could hear all the screams and cries from all the neighbors that he had gotten to known for two years and couldn't help but feel sorry that it was his fault for bring this upon them. He could hear the sound of spells being thrown and people being tortured. It was all so very gruesome and heartless, he had a hard time just sitting there and not running outside to help. But he had his own problems to deal with.

He got a chill down his spine as he felt two of the death eaters breaching his detection wards. They stopped likely checking to see if there were any other kind dangerous wards up. But once they realized that there weren't, they easily broke his protection wards and made their way up to the door. Frank waited with bated breath for what he had suspected would happen next.

BOOM! There went the door, flying off its hinges and to the opposite side of the room. After the door was gone, in walked two tall men with black robes and death eater masks, they both had their wands in hand ready to use on whoever got in their way. Other than the robes and masks, both men were very different from each other. One had long blonde hair and he held himself up like he was someone important. The other had shoulder length deep black hair that was a bit greasy and he was more scrawny and less sure of himself than the other. As Frank took a peek at these men, he instantly knew who the one with blonde haired wizard was. There was just no mistaking a Malfoy, especially one as arrogant as Lucius.

Both death eaters looked around for a few seconds until they spotted Frank sitting in his chair next to the fire completely unfazed by their loud entry. The blond death eater narrowed his eyes, not liking the looks of the situation. He held his wand at ready waiting for an attack of some kind, but none ever came.

"If you think I am going to hex you," Frank said, with a little grin on his face. "Then you are much dumber than I originally thought you were. As for me, I am not so stupid as to think that I can take the both of you."

"How dare you, you piece of scum!" the blonde death eater yelled with rage for being called an idiot.

"Lucius Malfoy," Frank said as he got up from his chair and finally faced the two wizards. "I would know that arrogant walk of yours from a mile away."

"Frank Mason," Lucius said with a sneer. "I see you haven't changed. Still as unsuccessful in the real world as you were back in Hogwarts."

A deep frown began to form on Franks face.

"What are you doing here, if I might ask?"

"Oh, most certainly," Lucius words dripped with sarcasm. "We are searching for something that the Dark Lord wishes to have, and I have a feeling that it is here in this house somewhere."

"What is this thing you are looking for," Frank said keeping very calm, trying not to give any indication that he knew anything. "And why should you think that I have it?"

Lucius sighed in annoyance.

"We are searching for a young girl who is said to possess extraordinary gifts. Some of your neighbors mentioned that you had a daughter."

"Yes, I do have a daughter," he said with a straight face, not giving up any kind of emotion. "But she is not here at them moment. She went away with some friends."

"Why do I get the feeling that you are lying to me," Lucius said in a sharp tone, not trusting a word this man was saying. "I bet your daughter really is here, and your just hiding her to keep her safe from us. If this is true, than she must be the girl that the Dark Lord wants."

"I have no idea what you are talking about. I would have no reason to lie because whoever this girl that you are looking for, she is definitely not my daughter."

Lucius was angered by how nonchalant Frank was being about the situation, so he lifted his wand and aimed it at his face hoping it would get a rise out of him. He hoped to scare Frank a little to get the facts he needed to know, but Frank didn't even flinch away. This made Lucius even angrier, so without warning he waved his wand and shot him with Cruciatus Curse. Frank hit the flour withering from the terrible pain that suddenly overcame his whole body, but he knew he would just have to endure the pain. Lucius stood over him, getting pleasure from the sound of the other man's cries of pain.

After a few more minutes of getting a rise from the pain he cause his old school enemy, Lucius dropped his wand and bent down closer to Frank's shaking body on the floor.

"Now, are you going to be a good little helper and tell us where you are hiding the girl, or are you going to make this hard on us."

"I still don't know what you are talking about," Frank said with a quivering voice. "I am not hiding anyone."

"Don't lie to me!" Lucius yelled grabbing Franks face and making it look straight at him. "Those neighbors of yours said they saw your young daughter today playing outside in the snow. Now tell me where you are hiding her or I will turn up every inch of this house until I find her."

"Even if my daughter was here, do you think that I would hand her over to you bastards? No, I would die before I would do that."

Lucius let go of the man and stood up over him. Frank was still on the floor shaking, but he kept his emotionless face intact.

"I really didn't want to have to do this. I was hoping we would get this done quickly. Guess I was wrong."

Lucius looked over to the other man that hadn't said a word the whole time they were there, he just stood there quietly and watched. He seemed a bit weary of it all, but didn't do anything to stop what was happening.

"Severus, go and search the place while have a long chat with are friend here."

The man named Severus just nodded and headed for the hallway, not wanting to get on Lucius Malfoy's bad side. To be honest, he really wished he wasn't there at the moment. He wasn't much into these raids the Dark Lord would send his followers out to do. He was much more useful in a lab than out in the field. Besides, he wasn't much into torturing as Malfoy or Bellatrix were. But the Dark Lord demanded that he go saying that he was too soft and that he needed to toughen out. Severus was still very young though, just next month he was turning twenty years old. So of course he was still soft, he was one of the few young death eaters, and he didn't have as much experience as some of the older death eaters.

Severus stepped into the first door that he saw, which was on the right side of the hall. He turned on the light switch and instantly recognized it as Frank's bedroom. He knew that he first thing he needed to do was check and see if there was any kind of trace of magic. Unfortunately, there was known. But that did not mean it didn't have some kind of entrance to a hidden room. So he got to work searching everything that could possibly be hiding some kind of trap door of secret passageway.

Nothing was out of the ordinary, it was just a like any other bedroom; he had a queen size bed and two nightstands that stood on either sides of the bed, a dresser that that was on the west side of the wall, and two individual doors; one leading to the a bathroom and the other a closet.

He first walked around the room to see if the wooden floor would creak anywhere, indicating that there might be something underneath. But the floor was perfectly fine and didn't make a sound other than his large boots hitting the ground. He also checked the walls for any hallow spots and he also looked behind the dresser, nothing. Next he looked under the large bed, he searched for lines in the flooring. When he didn't find anything he got up off the floor and sighed, this was going to be a lot more hard work than he wanted. It was the bathroom next, but again he came up empty, there was nothing that would be thought of as suspicious. The last thing he looked in was the closet. It had some clothes hanging up, but other than that it was pretty bare. He felt around the floor and the walls, and again, he didn't find anything he was looking for.

"Well that was a waste," he said to himself in his deep voice, he was clearly annoyed by this.

As he walked out of Frank's bedroom he could hear Lucius interrogating Frank in the living room, and it didn't seem to be going well. He decided to ignore that shouting of the two men and decided to go in the next room. He turned on the light, and was blinded by bright pinks and yellows the room was decorated in, unmistakably a room for a little girl. 'So he did have a daughter,' Severus thought to himself. 'At least we know he wasn't lying about that.' But what Severus wanted to find out was, if Frank's daughter was the girl they were looking for. He again went to checking this room for traces of magic, and when he didn't find any, he went and searched this room like he did the other. He had a feeling he wouldn't find anything, and he was right, there was nothing to see except stuff dolls and lots of pink. If there was a hidden room, he figured, it would probably be somewhere Frank had better excess to without being disturbed.

As he walked out of the girl's room and into the hallway again, he saw that there was one more door in the hallway. The light was on and it was halfway open, almost like it was inviting him to walk in. He made his way to the door, not paying any attention to the horrible screams he heard coming from the living room, and he opened the door and walked inside.

'Yes,' he thought to himself. 'This is defiantly the room.'

It was a large study, much larger than the other rooms. There was a nice mahogany desk in the center with papers scattering the top, and behind it was large bookshelves that took up the entire back wall. The shelves held many books, so many that it looked like some had to be stuffed on to allow them all to fit. The bookshelf was the first thing that Severus knew he had to search.

There was so many books, that he knew the quickest way to search it was to take all the books down with magic. He lifted his wand that he had been holding since he got to the village and waved it toward the long row of shelves. Slowly, one by one all the books went flying off and into neat piles that littered the floor.

Once all the books were off, he stepped closer to get a better look. He could see the wall on the other side which made it a lot easier for him to see if there was any indication of a door or entrance. He used his long masculine fingers to try and see if he could find any kind of crevice or gap in the wall. When he found none, he started using his wand and inspecting it, but not even magic could find anything. The bookshelf was completely normal, it was not warded off and it didn't have any kind of protection on it.

Severus felt as if maybe it was a lost hope, maybe he was wrong, that there wasn't any hidden room and the father meant what he said about his daughter not being home. But then he remembered that gaudy pink and yellow room, the covers on the bed were ruffled as if someone had just been in there. If she wasn't here, wouldn't you think that her bed would be made? Which could only mean one thing, the girl could be here in the house. There was still a possibility that his theory was correct, if so than Frank must have built some kind of secret room and warded it off so only he could get inside; and the only logical place it could be is right here in his study.

He waved his wand and the books went flying back to their place on the shelves. Now that he could move around better, he had a chance to look around, maybe he would find something he didn't catch when he first came into the study.

As he was looking around the room better, the first thing that caught his eye was a large painting on the wall close to the bookshelves. It was very unusual; it didn't quite fit with the rest of the room. It was a portrait of a river with the moon above it reflecting in the water. It was very nice and almost hypnotic in a way. It made his mind go blank, almost like he was really there look at this lovely scenery. He found himself swaying with the lake and it made him want to sleep. His eyes started to slowly shut when it came to him, this was it. This must be the entrance to the room.

His eyes shot open and he was released from whatever spell was put on the painting. Now that he was in his right state of mind, he was able to see that there was no painting, but a door. There was a doorknob with a keyhole in the center of it. He took a closer look at the door using his wand a couple of times and found out it could not be opened by magic, it most likely could only be opened the manual way.

This is when growing up in a muggle house came in handy for him. He remembered one summer learning how to pick locks; why he did this was very simple. His father hating magic hid all of his school stuff in a room that only his father had the key for. Of course know he regretted ever learning how to open the door, he still had the scars from where his father beat him for entering somewhere he wasn't allowed to be.

He went over to the desk and searched through it. He was really hoping that he would find what he was looking for. And what do you know, there were the paperclips. He grabbed a few and bent them to how he would need to use them. He went back over to the door and put the now bent paperclips inside the keyhole. He thought it might take him a while, since he hadn't picked a lock in so long. But he was surprised how easy it turned out to be. He turned the knob, and he saw what he was expecting, another door. Of course Frank wouldn't have made it that easy.

He saw that there was no keyhole or knob for this one. So it had to be closed by a certain spell, but that was the tricky part, what spell was it. It had to be something real complicated, something he probably didn't know. But of course he tried anyway. He first did a few easy spells, but wasn't shocked when they didn't work. Trying a few more complicated spells didn't do the trick either. He frowned, trying to think of anything he knew that could open the small door. But nothing came to mind.

He sighed in frustration and sat down on the floor next to the door.

He looked back to the large bookshelves and the amount of books Frank had. 'Of course,' he instantly thought. 'If he was going to use a intricate locking spell, he must have learned it somewhere.'

He got up off the floor and made a quick sweep of what kind of books this man had. Most of them were books he had already read, but there was only two that were interesting and might possibly be holding what he was looking for. So he took them down and sat at the mahogany desk. He skimmed through the first one and was disappointed to find there was no locking spell. But the second book was an entirely different story. Just after looking at the first few pages, he came by something that might just do the trick.

He remembered both the opening and locking part of the spell and went over to the small closed door. Waving his wand, he said the right enchantment, and just like that the door slowly opened. Severus grinded in triumph, he knew would be able to do it. Frank didn't make it that hard for him to find and open.

But now that he got the door open, what was he going to do. Was going to go and tell Lucius and have him deal with the rest, or he could just go inside and check and see if anyone was there. If not, than he would just simply go and tell Lucius that this was the wrong place. But there was a 50/50 chance that this girl could possibly be on the other side of this door.

Maybe it would be best he go and see first, most likely if the girl was there, Lucius would not be the best person to coax her to come out.

He got rid of his death eater things first, not wanting to scare the girl if she was there, and he slowly climbed through the small entrance. When he came through he saw that the light was turned on and that there was a staircase leading to a bottom floor. He slowly walked down trying to not make too much noise, but of course it didn't help thanks to his heavy boots. When he reached the bottom, he saw that another light was on, and that he was now in a large room.

"Daddy," he heard from not too far away. He quickly looked, and there she was, the girl that everyone was making a big fuss about. She was sitting on the floor and looked to be upset about something. For a minute, he couldn't move or breathe. He didn't know what he was expecting, but it was not that. Whoever this girl was, she was definitely not normal.


	4. Chapter 3: Saving a Life

Chapter 3: Saving a Life

**Disclaimer: **There is only one true owner of Harry Potter, and that is J. K. Rowling.

**In this one you will learn more about Ella and who she is, and why the Dark Lord is after her. ****I also want to ask if I should make John the one that gave the Dark Lord the information on Ella. I thought it to be the only plausible explanation because he was the only one that really knew where they were hiding.**

* * *

Changing and Chances

Ella wasn't just any ordinary witch, and the minute you looked at her you could understand why. She looked more like a majestic creature than a human. This wasn't just because she inherited some great genes, the real reason was because she was born a half-breed. Her mother who had died when she was giving birth to Ella was a part of a linage of very ancient Romanian Elves. These were not your everyday house elves, but real true genuine pureblooded elves.

Over five hundred years ago wizards believed that they had gotten rid of these ancient creatures, and over the years people started to believe that they had never existed. But what these wizards did not know was, when Romanian elf tribes were being taken into slavery because the wizards were afraid of their power, a few of the tribes got word of what was happening and were able to go into hiding. And they had been hiding ever since, to afraid to reveal themselves to the wizard world. There are very few wizards who actually know the existence of the small tribe's, and the rest simply believe it to be a small tale.

Ella knew of who she was and why it was so important that her connection to her mother remain a secret. It would not only put her in danger, but many others as well. If someone found out what she was capable of, they would want to use it to their advantage. That was the only thing that was keeping her down in the hidden basement, especially when she started to hear the sound of her father's screams.

She closed her ears with her hands tightly so she wouldn't have to hear the pain and agony in his voice. She was slowly breaking inside, because she knew that he was being tortured because of her. She held on tight and would not let go. It felt like hours had gone by before she was brave enough to finally uncover her ears.

She sighed in relief when she didn't her anymore screaming but she heard a man and her father talking. But there voices were drowned out by the sound of a door opening.

Ella held in her breath, not knowing if it was the one of the locked doors keeping her safe down here that opened, or the door to one of the rooms in the house. When she heard the sound of large feet hitting the stairs, she knew that it was the door to the hidden room that she heard being open. But the question was, who opened it.

"Daddy," she said, even though she knew that it could not be him because he was upstairs talking, but she didn't want to believe that it was someone else. Dread slowly washed over her as she saw that it really wasn't her dad but some stranger.

Ella looked up at the man that stood only a few feet away from her, and knew that he must be one of the men that were there to take her. But he was nothing like she thought he would look like. He was very young and didn't look the least bit as scary as she thought he should. She could see by looking at his face that he has had a hard life. She felt an overwhelming sadness coming off of this young man and felt compassion for the pain he had to endure his entire life.

Severus just looked down at Ella and saw how small she really was. There was something about her that was captivating, that made it hard for him to even think of kidnapping her and bring her to the Dark Lord. He could stand there and look at this small child for hours. She radiated a glow of kindness and innocence that made you feel warm inside, and a calming peace within yourself. Severus felt as if he was tainting her by simply look at her. She was to pure to be looked at by someone who saw bad things done, and who did bad things themselves.

Severus finally got his baring's and was finally able to speak.

"I am not your father," he told her, but with a gentle voice, almost as if he were afraid he would break her if he spoke any louder. "But if you come with me quietly, your father will not be harmed."

"I am sorry, but I can't do that," she said in a sweet voice, not wanting to be mean to this man.

Severus was speechless when he heard the little girl's soft Soprano voice. It was so kind, no one in his entire existence had ever spoken to him like that. 'She should hate me,' he thought. After all he was the one that was there to take her away from her home, and to give her off to one of the most evil wizards of the age. And he was pretty sure she knew this. But there she was, talking to him like he was a simple person and not some vile death eater that was there to harm her. A part of his heart warmed up to this girl even though he had only known her for a few sort seconds.

He really didn't want to have to give this innocent girl in, but he had orders, and in his life when you are given orders you have to follow through. It's either that or death.

"And why is that?" he asked her, trying to be nice somewhat nice.

"I promised my father that I would not leave," she replied. "So even though I want to help him, I must obey what he has asks of me."

A painful look over came him. He really didn't want to have to do what he was going to do next, but the girl left him no other choice.

"You do know this means I will have to force you to go than. You can make it easier on yourself and just go with me now."

Ella looked at this man with a careful eye. She knew that he wasn't all that bad, but he was very lost and undecided about a lot of things; especially about the situation he had found himself in right now. She could see that deep down somewhere he really didn't want to cause her any kind of harm, and she held on too that with some small amount of hope.

"But is that what you want to do?" she asked trying to see if she could get him to take her away.

"You clearly do not get it," he said with sadness in his voice. "I have my orders, and I must follow them."

"But you don't want too, do you. I can see that you don't like to be told what to do. What I don't understand is, if you don't like to be told what to do, then why do you do what you are told, and by a bad guy no less."

He was shocked by her words. How old was this girl, she did not look old enough to understand what he was really going through.

"Then why is it you take orders from your father?" he said trying to challenge her.

"Because he is my father, and if I don't obey him I might get in trouble."

"It's the same thing," he explained to her.

"No it's not," she argued. "You're a grown man, and you don't have any need for anyone to tell you what you should do. It seems to me like it makes you really unhappy."

"Well sometimes life doesn't go the way we want it too," he said with a dark look in his eyes.

She was quiet after that. 'Well he is a stubborn one,' she thought. 'This might be more difficult then I thought.' She was determined to get him to change his mind about taking her. It was clear to see he was not happy, and the deeper he got with the evil wizard he was working for the more his soul was being broken down.

Severus was amazed at how much this girl really knew. It was like she looked right through him and called him out on the truth that he did not want to believe. He walked over to where she was sitting on the floor and went and sat down next to her. He was curious on what else she would say. That curiosity is what kept him from thinking about what he was really here to do. As he sat down she looked up at him with her deep blue eyes, and another piece of that cold exterior of his heart started to slowly melt away. Never before had anyone ever looked at him like this little girl did. Almost as if she knew what he had gone through and she understood how he felt.

"What's your name?" he found himself asking.

"Ella," she replied. "And yours."

He was shocked that he actually replied back, "Severus."

"Well Severus, why is it that you do something that you hate."

"Because in life there's only a choice between survival and death, and I will die if I don't do what I am told."

"Why is that?"

"The Dark Lord does not forgive disloyalty, if he catches us doing something we are not supposed to, he will punish us how he sees fit."

"Couldn't you just switch to the good side?"

He laughed at how naïve her question was. He was so fascinated on how intelligent she was that he forgot she was still very young.

"It's not that simple," he explained to her. "I chose which side I was going to fight for a long time ago, it would be very hard to switch sides now. The other side thinks that I'm the bad guy, they would kill me instantly at the sight of me, and so they would never trust to actually believe that I was now fighting with them. They would think I was a spy for the Dark Lord."

She looked to be considering what he was telling her, and understanding lit up in her eyes.

"I can see where you are getting at with that. But I still don't get why you joined Voldemort in the first place."

He was stunned, did she just call the Dark Lord by his name. Many people were too afraid to even utter it, and here was Ella saying it like it was perfectly natural.

"Someone like you should not speak the Dark Lords name like that," Severus said with a firm voice. "You should not taint your mouth with such a name."

"But that's exactly the thing about it, it's just a name."

"You would be surprised on how powerful a name could really be."

"You still didn't answer my question about why you joined him," she interrupted.

Severus sighed.

"My excuse usually was that it was because I was a Slytherin, but if I told you that I would be lying. I guess the truth is that was the only place I felt that I had fit in. It didn't matter that I knew what I was doing was wrong, I just wanted to feel like I was a part of something."

He looked down at her, and saw that she was look straight at him with attentive eyes. She looked like she was evaluating what he had told her.

"I understand your feeling of wanting to fit, it's a common thing for many people to feel, even muggles."

She smiled up at him, with a very kind smile. At that moment he knew he was not going to hand her in. He should have known it from the minute he laid on this pure hearted child.

He was going to reply to what she told him, but the sound of shouting stopped him.

"You will tell me where she is now, or you will die!" it was Lucius's voice yelling. "I do not have the time or patients to deal with you any longer."

"I told you everything," Ella heard her father say. "My daughter is not here, she had gone later tonight with a friend of mine."

"You lie, and for that," Lucius paused. "Avada Kedavra!"

There was a loud scream, and then everything went quiet. Ella found Severus's hand and held onto it tightly. He looked down at her and saw that she knew what happened to her father. Her face went pale and her body started to shake. He had no idea what he should do or how he could comfort her, he was never any good at those kinds of things.

Lucius's large boots brought him back to the important situation at hand. If he did not leave now, Lucius would come and find him, but he would also find Ella. He couldn't allow that to happen, especially now. He could just imagine what the Dark Lord would do to her, and he didn't like that idea at all.

So he got up off the floor and bent down to Ella's small height; his hand was still in her small soft one.

"You must keep quiet," he said in a hurry. "If you don't, the man who murdered your father will find you. I promise that I will come back later and get you and take you somewhere safe. So do not leave this place, okay."

"But," she said with a sob. "I thought you were ordered to take me with you. You said he would kill you if you didn't do what he said."

He did not give her a kind smile or any kind of emotion at all. He just said three words.

"Just trust me."

She nodded her head. And before he let go of her hand he squeezed it softly trying to reassure her.

With that done, he left the Ella there, silently crying for what she had just lost.

He got out of the entrance closed it with the closing spell he remembered from Frank's book, closed the larger door and locked it with a simple locking spell and transfigured the door too look like a painting again. He put back on his black cloak and death eater mask. He then turned off the light, closed the door, and walked into the living room. That is where he found Lucius standing over Frank's dead body with a satisfied look on his face.

He finally noticed that Severus was there and looked up at him with a calculating eye.

"What took you so long?" he asked irritated.

"I searched everywhere and everything, there was nothing? It seems he does have a daughter, but it looks like she had left long before we ever came."

"Ugh," he exclaimed in annoyance. "The Dark Lord won't be happy. It seems as if his source wasn't any good. Well it doesn't matter anymore, because the man will most likely be dead by tomorrow."

"What happened to him?" Severus asked nodding to Frank's dead body.

"I never did like Frank Mason," Lucius said with disgust in his voice. "He would not give me what I wanted, so he paid the price for not speaking."

Severus looked down at the man, it seemed like Lucius put him through torture before he had finished him off.

"Come on, let's get going," Lucius said walking to the door and Severus followed right behind him. "The Dark Lord will want to know what went on tonight."

As they left, Severus saw all the dead bodies of the people who lived in the village, and not one of them was spared. Lucius held up his wand and a bright light shot out of it, and there in the sky was the dark mark hanging over this now ruined village.

One person survived that night, and her life was saved by a man no one would have thought had any good in him.


	5. Chapter 4: Meeting the Potter's part 1

Chapter 4: Meeting the Potter's part 1

**Disclaimer: **There is only one true owner of Harry Potter, and that is J. K. Rowling.

* * *

Changing and Chances

For Severus, he was sure this was one of the longest nights of his life, and it was far from ending because he still had to go back for Ella. It took over an hour until Voldemort would let any the death eaters go free, this was because how furious he was at their incompetents, or so he said himself. Of course like always he took it out on his devoted followers. Lucius got the worst of it since he had killed the man that could have possibly been a reliable resource to the whereabouts of the girl he was searching for. In times like these, Severus just tried to draw the attention away from him. It wasn't hard when the others were trying to fall on their knees asking Voldemort for forgiveness. The first thing that Severus learned as a death eater was, vying for the Dark Lords attention only got you tortured even more. So he did what he was always good at, he stayed quiet.

Even though he did not show it outwardly, Severus was very nervous. There he was a follower of one of the darkest wizards ever known to the wizarding world, and he was lying through his teeth about there not being a girl. It was at times like these that he was glad that he was so good at Occlumency. He couldn't even fathom what the Dark Lord would do to him if he found out that he knew were the thing he wanted was, but he wasn't going to give it to him. He would most likely be tortured and then killed. But he walked out of the meeting fully intact, something he could say about some of the others. Lucius had to be levitated out of the meeting after he passed out from the pain of the Cruciatus Curse.

The minute Severus was free to leave, he Apparated himself to his old childhood house on Spinners End where he was living at the moment. He thought it would be wise to change out of his death eater things before going back to get Ella. The other reason why he was there was, he had to come up with a plan on what he was going to do once he went and picked up the girl. Where was she going to stay? He obviously couldn't take her in. There was no one he knew that would be up for the job. After all most of the wizards he knew were death eaters and were out trying to hunt her down to bring to the Dark Lord. He could always leave her somewhere where one of the Order of the Phoenix members would find her, but he didn't like the idea of just deserting her somewhere without any kind of protection. She was a young witch, and there was many bad wizards out there, especially now a days.

The more he thought, the more frustrated he got. He didn't think this through when he decided to keep her safe and help her out. Now look at him, he was getting himself worked up. It would be much easier if he could just send her somewhere where he knew she would be safe, and where he wouldn't be connected to her in anyway.

And that's when it finally came to him.

"Of course," he said to himself. "Why didn't I think about that before?"

He rushed to grab a piece of parchment and his quill and ink and started writing furiously. He reread it a couple of times before he was sure it was perfect. He grabbed his wand and waved it at the parchment, and all of a sudden his fine cursive changed into something scratchier. He did not sign his name on the letter, but it did have the name of who the letter was for. It read as...

_Dear Mr. and Mrs. Potter,_

_I came across this young girl named Ella in a small house in a village west of London close to the border of England and Wales. I had business close by and saw the destroyed houses and bodies of people lying in the streets. I found only one survivor, this little girl, the rest of the village as well as her father were killed. I could not just leave her their alone, but I knew there was no possible way that I could take her in. I fear that she may be being targeted by the death eaters, so I had no choice but to get her somewhere safe, and what better place to be safe than with two members of the Order of the Phoenix. Please, I ask you to take her in, and if you can't, find someone that can._

He cringed while he was writing Lily's name as Mrs. Potter. It struck a nerve in his heart every time he remembered that she was married to a man that he hated and who hated him. But what other choice did he have, he knew Lily and that she could not leave a child alone out on the streets. Ella would be safe with the Lily, and that's all that mattered.

When he was finished and ready to leave, he put on his black cloak and folded the letter and put it into one of his pockets. He opened his door and walked outside and instantly felt the bite of the cold wind hitting his face. He ignored it and walked to the side of his house into the dark alley that was behind his house and Apparated back to the same village that he was in not three hours ago. He looked at his watch and saw that it was just a little over two o'clock in the morning. It was very important that they leave before dawn arrives, it would be a lot less hard to get caught while it was still dark.

He sped through the village making sure he didn't look at all the bodies that littered the ground. He did not to have to see their limp lifeless bodies and their faces frozen with a look of shock. He had to see enough dead people; he did not want to have to see so many of them all together.

He was relieved when he finally made it to the end of the village and to the small little house. He walked inside and the first thing he saw was Frank's body lying on the ground. He could not allow Ella to see her father like that; it would just be too cruel. So he levitated Frank's body to his room and laid him down on his bed. He remembered to close the door after he left the room.

Now that that was done, he had to go and get Ella. He walked into the study for the second time that day, turned on the light and again opened up the entrance to the hidden room bellow the house. He entered the small door and walked down the large flight of stairs to the bottom of the basement.

As he looked around the room, terror instantly overcame his entire body. Ella was gone, and she wasn't where he had left her when he left only three hours ago. How could this be? He was so sure she understood him when he said that he would come back for her. So why was she not there? Maybe she didn't trust him. Maybe she believed that he was going to come back and take her away to the Dark Lord. 'She couldn't have gotten too far,' he thought to himself. 'Maybe I could find her and make her believe that he meant no harm to her.'

He was about to leave when he heard a strange noise coming from a part of the room that was shrouded in darkness. He walked close to the corner of the room where he heard the noise, and found that the darkness lead into a short hallway. He listened careful and heard the noise again, it sounded like a soft sigh.

"Lumos," he said pointing his wand to the hallway. It was instantly lit up with light, and he could see that the hallway led into some kind of room. He softly walked into the hall not wanting to make whatever was in the room aware of his presence, at least until he was sure if it was Ella or not. As he made it to the room he saw that it was very small, and even smaller because of all the stuff that was packed into it. Boxes cluttered the floor, and the rest of the room was taking up by a large bed pushed up to the wall. And on that bed was the sleeping figure of Ella.

He sighed in relief that she was still here and safe. He was thankful that he heard the sighs she was making in her sleep or he would have walked right out of there looking for her and would probably never find her.

He looked at her peaceful face and hated that he was going to have to wake her up. He could just imagine how tired the girl was. But if they were going to get out of here before dawn, she would have to be woken up as soon as possible.

He walked over to the bed where Ella was laying asleep calmly breathing in and out. He got down closer to her so he could wake her up gently. He put his hand on her shoulders and lightly shook them. There was no fuss or any kind of problems waking her up, the minute she felt Severus's hands shaking her, she awoke immediately.

She rubbed her eyes and laid up in the bed.

"Severus," she asked in a half awake half asleep kind of voice. "Is that you."

"Yes," he replied quietly.

She was alert the minute she heard his voice. She was so afraid that he wouldn't come back. She got up and warped her warm little arms around him, to excited to realize what she was doing. Severus tensed up. He hadn't received a hug from anyone in a long time, and he wasn't use to feeling of someone else touching him. But Ella did not recognize his unease, and held onto him as tight as she could.

"I was so afraid that you weren't coming back," she said to him. "I thought that maybe Voldemort caught you and hurt you. I would absolutely hate myself if you were harmed because of me."

Severus was moved by her compassion for his life. No one else except himself ever cared if he lived or died, and here was this girl concerned if he were hurt or not. In his whole existence on earth, he had never met a creature as caring or goodhearted as Ella.

"You should not worry yourself with the likes of me," he replied to her. "I am nobody, just an evil man who does evil things."

She let go of him and gave him a hard look.

"If you were evil, I would not be here right now, but with Lord Voldemort. You could be a good person if you wanted to. Every person in this world has a choice, and it just matters if you make the right one or if you make the wrong one."

"You are a very fascinating person Ella."

"Is that a good thing?"

"Yes," he said nodding his head. "It's a very good thing."

He stood up from the floor where he was kneeling in front of the bed.

"We must get going," he said as he helped her up out of the bed. "We do not want to be seen walking about together in the daylight."

"Why is that?" she questioned him.

"I am a death eater, Ella. If anyone saw that I had a young girl with me, they would be curious. Word would eventually reach the Dark Lord and he would find out that I had help the girl he was looking for escape. He would most likely kill me."

"Oh," was all she said.

They made their way out of the small room with the bed and walked all the way to the staircase that led up out of the underground basement. They walked up the stairs and he waited for her to go through the door before he went. He locked the doors again but this time he left the door in the open. While he was locking the doors, Ella made her way to her room and turned on the light. She went under her bed and took out her large trunk. Opening it, she started to put her things into it. Her clothes, her toiletries that she kept in a drawer, and a few of her favorite stuff dolls.

"Are you almost finished?" she heard Severus ask.

"Yes," she replied. "I just need to get one more thing."

She made her way to the small desk she had in her room and took the picture of her and her dad off of it. She went back to her trunk and safely wrapped it around one of her shirts and put it in, and then she closed it tightly.

"There," she said proud of herself. "I finished in five minutes, a new record."

Severus walked over to her trunk and shrunk it down to pocket size, and put it inside his cloak.

"Cool," Ella said fascinated. Her father rarely ever did magic, so she did know all the useful things you could actually do with it.

Severus smirked at Ella's reaction to him doing a simple spell. It was when he looked at her that he noticed she was still in her nightclothes.

"I will leave as you get dressed. Make sure you where something warm because it is very cold outside."

As he said this, he walked out of the room and closed the door to give her privacy. As he walked into the living room he remembered all the bodies that were on the ground outside. He couldn't possibly take her outside to see all the people that she knew in this village were dead.

"I'm ready to go," said Ella as she came and walked into the living room with clothes and shoes on. She looked around as if she was expecting to find something.

"Your father is not in here?" he replied to her unanswered question. "I moved him to his bedroom. I figured you wouldn't want to have to see him in the condition that he was in."

She only nodded her head and gave him a thankful smile.

"Is there exit in the house that faces away from the village and into the forest area?" he asked her.

"Yes, it's in the kitchen. Why do you want to know?"

He didn't answer her question, all he said was, "Where going out that way. Then I will Apparate us to where we need to go."

"Where are we going?"

"I'm taking you to some people that will be better suited to help you out."

"Who are these people?"

"One of them is someone very important to me. You can trust me when I say that she will help you out."

"I trust you," was all she said to him, and it was all he needed to hear to now that she would follow his instructions.

Severus started walking to the door that he assumed led to the kitchen, and Ella followed along with him. They walked through the modern style kitchen to the sliding glass door that led outside. Severus was right when he said it was cold, and Ella was happy that she put on her warmest clothes.

Severus held out his hand and Ella took it in her.

"This might feel a little weird," he told her.

Ella felt as every witch or wizard does when they Apparate for the first time, dizzy and nauseous. She felt the feeling of being sucked into a small little hole. As they landed safely in a dark alley, Ella felt as if her legs were jelly and could not stand up on them.

"Are you alright?" Severus asked her in concern.

She nodded her head and said, "I think so. I just feel disoriented."

A few seconds later, Ella was able to pull herself together, and now was curious on where it was they were.

"You see that house over there," he pointed to small little house somewhere not too far off. "That is where my friend lives. All you need to do is knock on the door, but they will already know that you are their once their wards go off."

He took out the letter that he wrote and her trunk and handed them to Ella.

"Give that letter to them. It will explain everything."

"Are you sure about this?" she asked, feeling unsure of the situation.

"You don't need to worry, everything will be fine. I will stay here until I know you are safe."

She felt reassured that he would keep a close eye on her, but she was confused. If this person was a friend of his, why didn't he just go along with her?

"Why aren't you coming along with me? You said that this was your friend, wouldn't it be much easier if you explained it."

"That's the thing. Lily doesn't consider me her friend anymore. It's a long story and I don't want to have to explain it. Just trust me when I say its best she doesn't know it was me that sent you."

"You love her don't you," she said in her strange all-knowing way. "But she doesn't love you back."

Hearing those words cut deep within Severus's soul, he was suddenly overcome with anger toward Ella. She saw the hurt and anger that she caused and regretted saying what she did. This man had been nothing but kind to her, but here she was bring up what was probably bad memories.

"I am sorry," she said ashamedly. "I did not mean to hurt your feelings, please forgive me. You have been really nice, and you don't deserve me saying things that I don't understand."

Severus was quiet for a few seconds, but he sighed and released all of his anger. He shouldn't be angry at her for what she said, because what she said was the truth.

"Don't worry about it. It would just be nice if you didn't mention it again."

"Of course, it was wrong for me to say anything in the first place."

Severus looked at his watch again and saw that it was ten past three.

"You should get going. You need to get somewhere warm before you get a cold from this freezing weather."

"Will we ever see each other again?" she asked with a hopeful voice.

"I'm not sure," was all he could reply.

For the second time that night, Ella went up to Severus and warped her arms around him in a hug, but this time he didn't flinch away from her touch, but he allowed her to hug him.

"I know that we will see each other again," she said as she let go. "Thank you for saving me Severus."

That was the last thing she said to him before she walked out of the alley and to the small little house where the Potter's lived.

He watched her as she opened the gate that was in the front lawn, made her way up a few flights of steps to the door, and knocked on the door like he told her too. It was ten minutes before the door was open, the Potter's were undoubtedly probably checking to make sure that the person who was at the door was not anyone threatening. They probably opened the door the minute they realized a little girl was standing outside in the cold. There standing in the doorway was his love, Lily. He hadn't seen her in so long, how he missed her. He saw Ella give her the letter he wrote and she read it. She looked around to see if she could find the person who wrote the letter. When she didn't see anyone, he saw her guide Ella into the house and Lily went in after her.

That was it, his work was done. Ella was safe, and he could go home and get some sleep. But as he was about to Apparate away, he couldn't help himself from feeling a strange emptiness inside himself.


	6. Chapter 5: Meeting the Potter's part 2

Chapter 5: Meeting the Potter's part 2

**Disclaimer:** There is only one true owner of Harry Potter, and that is J. K. Rowling.

**AN: I wasn't too proud of my last chapter that I posted yesterday. There were a lot of grammar errors that I had over looked. I cringe at the thought of so many mistakes, a few here and there is fine, but I saw that it was really bad. So I went back and fixed all of those. Hopefully it is better to understand now. I really hope you enjoy this chapter. :D**

* * *

Changing and Chances

Ella looked back to the alley that she left Severus in only ten minutes ago while she was being ushered into the house by Mrs. Potter. They looked directly at each other before he Apparated away. She felt a sudden feeling of loneliness as she saw that he was gone. She hoped she was right, and that they would see each other again.

"What are you looking at sweetie?" Mrs. Potter asked her, looking at the now empty alley that Ella had her eyes on.

"Nothing," Ella replied and went into the warm inviting house and Lily followed after.

As she walked in, she was greeted by a young man with dark messy hair and glasses that were slightly fall down off of his nose. He was very kind looking, so she had no reason to be frightened of him. He looked to Ella and then Lily with a questioning stare. Lily just handed him the letter that Ella had handed to her. He carefully read it before setting it down.

"The person who wrote this didn't sign their name," he said in a weary voice. "That's a bit suspicious don't you think."

"I thought that at first," said Lily. "But when you think about it, whoever this person is, is clearly trying to protect this little girl. How bad of a person could they be if they were willing to put themselves in danger to get her somewhere safe."

"It was a man," Ella finally spoke. "He was very nice, and saved me from being caught by the death eaters. They came to the village because they were look for me. Voldemort has been searching for my whereabouts since he was given information of who I am."

Both James and Lily looked at Ella, and saw that she was being sincere with her answer. Besides, there was something about her that made them want to trust her, and it had nothing to do with her young age.

James and Lily looked at each other; it was obvious that they were silently communicating something to each other. Ella seen adults do this when they didn't want to say something in front of young children.

"She has nowhere else to go, James," Lily said to her husband. "We can't just kick her out."

"You are right about that," James agreed. "That was the last thing that I would ever do to a helpless child, especially one that had just lost a parent. I guess we could keep her overnight and then tomorrow contact Dumbledore. Maybe he will know something about her."

The both of them seemed to come to an agreement that it would be best that she stayed for the time being until they could find out more information on Ella and who she really was.

"What's your last name, dear?" Lily asked her.

"Mason," Ella replied back politely like her father taught her too. "My father was Frank Mason."

"I never heard of a Frank Mason," James said. "What is it that your father does, Ella?"

"He said that when he was younger, he worked in the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry. But he quit when he turned twenty-one, he said he didn't like working at the Ministry much, he was more into traveling around the world and saving some of the forest that held magical creatures living in them."

"How old was he?" James questioned.

"Thirty-five, he would have turned thirty-six in two weeks."

"Did he travel a lot?"

"Yes, but when I was born and my mother died when she gave birth to me, my father moved us back here to England. But he didn't get back in touch with any of his other wizarding friends other than his best friend John. In fact, I rarely ever saw him do any magic."

"That explains why I have never heard of him, if what you say is true."

"Yeah," Ella said with a bitter tone to her voice.

Lily saw how upset Ella was getting because of James questions. Of course the girl was upset; she had just lost her father. Lily could just imagine the long and tiring night Ella had. So as quickly as she could, she shut James up with a look, and looked back down to the exhausted little witch.

"You should be getting to bed," Lily said in a compassionate voice. "Do you have a change of clothes?"

That reminded Ella about the trunk that Severus had shrunk for her. While he handed her the letter he wrote, he gave her her trunk and she put it in her pocket. So she went through her cloak pocket and brought out the small trunk.

"The man shrunk it for me so it would be easier to take with us," she said setting it down on the ground. "Do you think you could possibly turn it back to its original size?"

"Of course, sweetie," it was James that said this. He said this very kindly, feeling bad about talking to her about her father when it was clear to see that she was feeling uncomfortable doing so. He took out his wand, and the shrunken trunk grew large again.

Ella's eyes lit up as she saw this happening. No matter what, whenever she saw magic, she couldn't help but get excited. She was even more excited when she herself would perform magic.

"There you go," James said smiling down at Ella. "Lily can show you what room you will be staying in for the night, and I'm sure you will want to hit the bed a soon as you can. You look extremely tired little one."

"Thank you very much for your kind hospitality. I am very tired."

"You don't need to thank us, it is our pleasure to help you out, Ella," Lily replied to Ella's sincerer gratitude. "No child should be on in the streets alone without anywhere to go. Now if you follow me, I will set you up in the guest room."

Lily used her wand to levitate Ella's large trunk as they walked through the living room that all three of them were standing and into a long hallway. The guest room was all the way in the back of the hall. They passed by three other doors. The first one being James and Lily's bedroom, and the one cross to their room was their son Harry's room. The last one was a guest bathroom that Lily said that she should use if she needed too.

"Here you go," Lily said as she opened the door to the room Ella would be staying in. It was very nice with sky blue painted walls, and a nice and soft twin size bed. There was a dresser, a bed side table with a lamp on top of it, and just above the bed was a beautiful picture of the ocean. These were the only things that filled the small but comfortable room.

Ella walked in after Lily who set her trunk down at the end of the bed. Ella took of her cloak because it was getting really hot wearing it, and set it down on the bed.

"I will just let you settle in," Lily said leaving the room, but stopped before she left. "Remember, if you need anything, just ask."

"I will," she said, even though she knew that she probably wouldn't. They were already putting her up for the night; she didn't want to have to be a bother to them along with that.

Lily nodded, and closed the door as she walked back into the hall.

Ella sighed when she was finally alone. Tears started to flow down her face as she cried for her father and all the people in the village that had lost their lives that night because of her.

She silently cried until she couldn't cry anymore. When all her tears were dried up, she went to her trunk and opened it. She took out the picture she had of her dad and her together, and put it on the side table next to the bed. Then she went back to her trunk and got out her night things that she had been wearing that same night. She undressed herself and set the clothes she was wearing back in her trunk, and she put on her nightclothes. Closing her trunk, she walked to the bed and unfolded the sheets and got in. The minute her head it the soft pillow she fell right to sleep.

* * *

It was two hours later when Ella was awoken from her deep sleep with the need to use the bathroom. She looked at a clock that she now just recognized on the tall dresser. It read that it was 5:44 in the morning, not nearly early enough for it to be bright outside. So she got out of her bed and headed to the bathroom. It was when she came out of the bathroom, that she heard something coming from the living room.

She silently walked down the hall trying to keep from making a sound. As she looked, she saw that both Mr. and Mrs. Potter were still up. They were sitting down on the coach in the living room, each with a mug of coffee in their hands. They were talking to each other about her.

"I don't know Lily. This entire situation just seems strange to me. What would Volemort want with a young witch like her, it's not like she can do magic yet."

"I understand what you are saying, because I'm thinking the same thing. I don't know the whole extent of what is happening here, but you got to remember that Voldemort is after her, and as members of the Order of the Phoenix don't you feel somewhat responsible to make sure she is safe."

"Yes I do, but that is not what I'm trying to get you to understand. We have Harry now, we can't just overlook that. I know you, and I know how kind you are, especially when it involves children, but you got to also remember about our child's safety. If what that letter says is true, then there is always a chance that Voldemort could find out that we have her here in our house and if he could kill an entire village for her, than what are three people to him."

"Then what do you suggest we do, James," Ella heard Lily raise her voice just a bit. "Kick her out and leave her to the dogs. I refuse to do that to any child."

James sighed.

"I would never do such a thing and you know it. You are overreacting. I was just saying that maybe one of the other members should take her in."

They were silent for a moment, they both seemed to be in deep thought. It was Lily that was the one to talk first.

"I get why you are worried, I am worried about Harry too. But you have to remember that no matter whom you are, as long as this war consists the way it does, no one is safe. Even if we don't take Ella in until she is old enough to go to Hogwarts, there is still a chance that something bad could happen."

"Yeah, but what are the chances that that won't happen if she stays with us. It's just too risky Lily, and I can't put my family at risk for some young witch that I don't even know."

This time it was Lily's turn to sigh. She was getting very frustrated with the way her husband was talking, like they were the only ones that had to worry about their safety.

"I think we should just wait for Dumbledore," Lily said, finally giving up on arguing with James. "He will know what to do, and hopefully he will know who she is. I don't like the idea that she is alone without a person in the world who even knows who she is."

"Yes, that is best," James replied back.

They were quiet after that, leaving each other to their own thoughts. When Ella saw that they weren't going to say anything else. She quietly walked back to the guest room she was staying in, and got inside the bed.

She knew it was wrong to eavesdrop and that her father always told her that sometimes people said things about you in private that you wouldn't want to hear. She guessed her father was right, it was never a good idea to listen in to a conversation that you weren't meant to hear. And as she fell back to sleep, she couldn't help but feel afraid about the idea of not knowing what was going to happen to her.


	7. Chapter 6: Dumbledore's a Grandfather?

Chapter 6: Dumbledore's a Grandfather?

**Disclaimer:** There is only one true owner of Harry Potter, and that is J. K. Rowling.

**I meant to post this last night, but my brother wanted to play this game called Slender and he asked me to play it with him. Scared the crap out of me! Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter. I will be posting another one after this, maybe sometime later today. :D**

* * *

Changing and Chances

Ella was woken up from her dreaming by the lovely smell of pancakes, eggs, and bacon being cooked. It filled Ella with the feeling of being at home; her father would make her pancakes for breakfast almost every day. It reminded Ella that she would never have another breakfast with her father again. She felt an awful pain in the area of her chest where her heart was, and she felt an overwhelming sense of emptiness inside like a piece of her had been ripped away. She would have cried, but all her tears were dried up from crying so much the night before.

Even though she was awake, she wasn't in the mood to get up yet, not even for a delicious breakfast. She just wanted to be alone with her thoughts for a while longer, because she knew that once she left that room she would be bombarded by many questions. She thought she at least deserved a few minutes of quiet before she had to relive last night's long horrendous night. So Ella lay down in the bed that was not her own and contemplated what was going to happen to her now that her dad was gone.

That brought up in her mind what she overheard Mr. and Mrs. Potter arguing about that morning. Personally, she had to agree with Mr. Potter when he said that it wouldn't be a good idea if she stayed with them. She did not want to be the cause for anyone else's death, especially a little baby's. But she saw that she had no choice in the matter, she would be put were the adults thought was the best place for her. She felt as if she was old enough to make her own decisions, but all adults would see when they looked at her was a little helpless ten year old girl.

She sighed, frustrated with her thoughts. 'Why can't my life be normal,' she said to herself. It's not that she wasn't proud to be half wizard half elf, it was just that she wished it didn't cause her so many problems. But she just had to remember what her father always told her when she would ever question who she was. "You can't change who you are," she repeated her father's words out loud. "Because who you are and where you came from is what makes you special." Saying those words that her father had told her only two years ago, made her feel much better than she felt before.

Ella sat up in the bed aware that it was probably late in the day and that she should get up and ready, she didn't want to be rude and sleep all day. Besides, she felt that she was now ready to face the day with her head held high. Sure she was sad about her father, but she knew he would always be with her, and that he would definitely be upset if she were sulking around feeling sorry for herself. It was like pulling off a Band-Aid, it was best to get it over quickly. The quicker she faced that she would never get to see her father again, the more she could slowly start to recover herself. She would never be whole again, but that didn't mean she had to lose her entire self.

She looked to the side clock and saw that it was 10:24 in the morning which surprised her, because she thought that it would be a lot later. Again, the smell of a homemade breakfast brought her away from her thoughts and to the fact the she was very hungry. She felt her stomach growl and her mouth water as the warm lovely smells wafted into the room. So she eagerly got out of bed and got out her trunk and opened it so she could put on some appropriate clothing.

As she walked into the kitchen, she saw two men sitting at the table, one was Mr. Potter and the other she did not know. In a highchair sat a little boy that looked very much like Mr. Potter, it was obviously their son Harry. He looked to be about six months old, and in Ella's opinion he was the cutest baby that she had ever seen. Mrs. Potter was next to the stove flipping pancakes onto a plate that had some eggs and bacon already on it.

She felt really awkward as she watched this little family together, feeling as if she were intruding on them. But she quickly was brought away from that fear when she saw Mrs. Potter's kind face smiling at her as she saw her standing in the doorway of the kitchen. She was holding a plate in her hand and Ella couldn't help but drool and the site of it. But her father had always taught her to be polite when at someone else's house. So she waited until she got an invitation. It came from the man that she didn't know.

"Well, love," the he said. "Are you just going to stand there, or are you going to come over here and eat some of this lovely food that Lily here made especially for you. You don't think she actually made it for us do you."

Ella blushed immediately at the man's words. She saw that he was a very handsome man with long shaggy black hair and storm cloud grey eyes. He had a very nice smile, one that was friendly and inviting. Whoever this man was, she knew that she was going to like him.

She walked over to the small table that everyone else was eating at and took a seat in the only one that was empty, the one right next to the man that she didn't know. Lily came over and set the plate down with a fork and some syrup for the pancakes. She also filled a cup of with orange juice and gave that to her as well.

"Thank you so much Mrs. Potter," she said remembering her manners. "You didn't have to go through all this trouble just for me."

"Oh, you don't have to call me Mrs. Potter dear, just call me Lily. And don't you worry, I don't mind at all. It's not every day I can find a special occasion to make a nice breakfast."

"So me coming over isn't a special occasion," the man sitting next to her replied to Lily's statement.

"Padfoot," Lily scolded while she rolled her eyes at her friend's antics. "You come over almost every day."

"Yeah, so I can see my Godson. At least I should get something nice for making an effort, am I right James."

James threw up his hand and said, "Leave me out of this."

Ella couldn't help but to laugh as she ate her food. Especially at what Lily had just called the man. What kind of name was Padfoot?

"And why are you laughing, missy?" the man named Padfoot frowned at Ella. "Do you think I am funny?"

"No, I think your name is funny."

"Oh," he said surprised. "It's just a nickname. My real name is Sirius."

"Sirius," she said contemplatively, testing it out on her tongue a bit. "It's much nicer than Padfoot. How did you get such a silly name anyways?"

James laughed at Ella's question, while Sirius was shooting daggers at his best friend.

"Haven't you noticed his resemblances to a scruffy mangy dog," James chortled at his friends expense.

"Yeah," Ella's eyes brightened up at the resemblance between Sirius and a dog. "He has that friendly look as well that dogs usually possess."

"Okay, that's enough chit chat," Lily interrupted. "We can talk later. Ella needs to finish her food before it gets cold. Besides, Dumbledore is going to be coming around soon."

Hearing Lily's words made Ella remember about her breakfast, and she hurriedly started to eating again. She saved her pancakes for last because they were her favorite. She poured the syrup over the pancakes, and dug in. As she ate, she instantly forgot about everything else except keep putting food into her mouth. Lily's pancakes were very good, almost as good as her father's.

"Dumbledore?" questioned Sirius, as Ella was busy eating. "Why is he coming over?"

"Ella, of course," Lily explained to Sirius. "I am sure by now that you have heard about the death eater raid last night."

"Sure I have," Sirius replied with a frown on his face, not liking where this was going. "The whole village was killed, and not one of them survived."

"Sirius," Lily reprimanded. She pointed over to Ella in a way that told Sirius to shut up.

"Oh," Sirius said, now comprehending the situation.

"Yeah," James nodded his head. "It's best we keep quiet about that."

"I can hear you guys you know," Ella instantly interrupted, not like being talked about like she wasn't even there. "You don't have to be quiet about it in front of me. I know what happened last night and I'm not afraid to talk about it."

It was very silent in the kitchen for a few minutes, the only sound coming from Harry who was banging down on his highchair. They were all shocked on how lightly she was taking the situation. For a girl her age to go through something so horrendous, she sure seemed to be very composed about it all. She wasn't acting like a ten year old who just went through something tragic, but someone that was at least twice her age.

"We just didn't want to hurt your feelings dear," Lily finally spoke after everyone got over their shock. "It's a hard thing for someone to lose someone so close to them."

"My father was a good man," Ella said, many emotions passing her face at once. "He will always be with me no matter what happens or where I go. It's best to remember the good things instead of the bad, because how am I ever going to get on with my life if I don't."

Sirius just smiled and said, "I like how you think, Ella. Always thinking positive and not negative, now that is a courageous thing."

Ella smiled back at him.

"Thank you."

It was quiet after that as everyone finished the rest of their food. Ella wanted to help Mrs. Potter clean up, but Mrs. Potter would not allow it saying that she was a guest. So they all just sat around the table, the men finishing their coffee, and Ella was sipping on her orange juice.

It stayed quiet until Sirius finally couldn't take the silence anymore. His curiosity got the better of him, and he asked Ella what everyone else in the room wanted to hear.

"So tell us Ella?" Sirius asked with a more serious tone to his voice now. "What did happen last night?"

"Um," Ella was shocked out of her thoughts by Sirius question. She was unsure of what she should say.

Ella was overcome by an uncomfortable feeling. She knew this was coming, and she thought that she was prepared to tell her side of the story. Now that it was happening, she wasn't sure if she could handle repeating what had what on the night before. There was so many details that she couldn't remember.

"Ella, dear," a new voice cut in. "Do not be afraid to tell us. It is very vital that we know the truth of this horrid tragedy."

Ella looked up, and the doubtful look in her eyes was replaced with pure joy. Standing there in the Potter's kitchen was a tall old man with blue eyes and half mooned spectacles that covered his long crooked nose. Ella instantly recognized him. She shot up out of her chair and ran over to him and threw her arms around his brightly covered robes.

"Grandpa," she said, you could see that they were both overcome with such elation that it brought tears to her eyes and his as well. "You don't know how great it is to see you. Now that you're here, I know that everything is going to be okay."

"Oh, darling," the old man said to the little girl as he put his arms around her too. "I am so sorry for what you had to bore all alone. I should have done more to protect you."

"It's not your fault, Grandpa," she reassured her Grandfather. "You didn't know this was going to happen. Neither did father."

"I'm so glad you are okay, Ella," he said to her, holding her even tighter. "I would not know what I would do without my precious granddaughter."

The others in the kitchen were in awe at what they were witnessing at the moment. How could this be? Dumbledore was a Grandfather? Who could have seen that coming?


	8. Chapter 7: Explanations and Decisions

Chapter 7: Explanations and Decisions

**Disclaimer:** There is only one owner of Harry Potter, and that is J. K. Rowling.

**AN: Took me forever to pry the computer from my brothers fingers. I was hoping to get this up a lot sooner than I did. Oh well, I hope you enjoy this new chapter. :D**

* * *

Changing and Chances

The sweet reunion of a grandfather and granddaughter was ruined by none other than Sirius, who had rudely cleared his voice. Dumbledore was the first one to compose himself, remembering that they had an audience that was probably very confused at the moment. He let go of Ella and bent down to give her a kiss on her forehead and stood up to face the others in the kitchen. Ella turned around as well, but was very confused by the befuddled looks that she was receiving. She squirmed around feeling slightly uncomfortable, but Dumbledore instantly picked up on this and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Why don't we go into the living room so I can explain," Dumbledore said in a superior tone, breaking the awkward silence that filled the room.

"Yes, why don't we do that," Sirius said looking at Albus with an that was purposely thrown at Albus. "I don't know if I'm the only one, but I sure as hell would like to know what the hell is going on."

"Patients, Sirius," Dumbledore said, completely unfazed by Sirius's glaring. "All will be told shortly. But for now, I think that Lily should get Harry out of his highchair before he starts crying, the boy looks to be quite upset."

"Oh my," Lily said rushing over to pick Harry up. She could not believe that in light of the strange situation, she had completely forgot her son.

"I am so sorry my sweetie," she cooed at the little child as she rocked him in her arms. The minute he was in his mother's arms, Harry became calm and his red scrunched up face turned back to normal. "I'm going to go change Harry and get him out of his nightclothes, so you guys just go ahead to the living room without me."

Lily walked out of the kitchen with baby Harry in her arms, happy that she had motherly duties to take care of so she could get away from the perplexing predicament that was happening at the moment. She was never one to like conflict, and with Sirius around, she was sure there would be lot of it.

Back in the kitchen was as unpleasant as Lily predicted. Sirius looked to be angry, James was trying to keep quiet, while Ella was unsettled feeling the tension in the air, and Dumbledore was acting like nothing was wrong. Dumbledore broke the stillness in the room in a way that only Albus Dumbledore could.

"Why don't we go into the living room for a nice cup of tea," he said as he led his granddaughter out and the others followed along with him.

"I'm going to need something stronger than tea by the time we are done with this," James said quietly to himself, not expecting anyone else to hear him.

"That could be arranged James my dear boy," Albus replied to him with his little twinkle in his eyes. "Yesterday, I had just bought myself a lovely bottle of firewhiskey."

Dumbledore waved his wand and produced his favorite arm chair. Sitting down, he waved his wand again, and on the table were five steaming cups filled with tea. Ella sat down closest to where Dumbledore set his chair at, not feeling all that comfortable with the others at this moment.

"I really wasn't being serious about that, sir," James said embarrassedly because he was caught saying something he didn't mean for anyone else to hear. He went and took a seat in the arm chair closest to the fireplace, while Sirius sat on the large sofa where Ella was seated.

"That's a shame," he said trying to sound like he was disappointed, but it was obvious he was only teasing James. "It's really good firewhiskey too. I could never finish the stuff by myself, but I guess it is too early to be having a drink anyway."

Ella just sat in her seat there quietly blowing on her tea to make it cooler, and taking little sips from the tea cup. Whatever was going on with the men, it was obviously between them and her grandfather and she did not want to get involved. That could possibly make things even worse than they already were. She learned long ago when grownups started arguing, it was best to pretend that you weren't there.

By the look on Sirius's face, you could see that he was becoming in irritated by how Dumbledore was sipping his tea and acting nonchalant. There sat the man he thought he could trust sipping his tea like there wasn't a problem in the world. He thought he knew Dumbledore, and now his eyes were open and he saw that he didn't know the man at all. If he had a granddaughter that no one knew about, what else was he hiding?

"Are you going to explain," Sirius burst, not being able to take it any longer. "Or are you going to sit there and drink you bloody tea all day."

"Actually," he replied calmly. "I was waiting for Lily to get done. I'm sure she would like to hear this as well."

Sirius was quiet after that, and James simply didn't know what to do with himself. He couldn't believe how uncomfortable he could feel in his own home. It was all just very disconcerting to him. James prayed for Lily to come back so Dumbledore could get on to what he was going to tell them before Sirius blew up entirely. He was about to go and get her when she finally walked into the living room with a clean and newly dressed Harry.

"Thank, God," James said, relieved that he wouldn't have to keep his best friend from trying to attack their old Headmaster.

"What?" Lily questioned James as she put Harry down in his play pen. "I wasn't gone that long, was I?"

"Of course not dear," Dumbledore was the one that replied. "We were just waiting on you before I began."

"Well I'm here," Lily said taking a seat in the middle of Ella and Sirius on the sofa. "Let's hear it than."

"I guess you can say it all started when I met a lovely witch named, Abigail," he began. "The minute I looked at her, I knew that I was in love. Of course it wasn't the same for her, and for a very long time all we were to each other was friend's. That was just fine with me, even though I could not have her for myself, it was nice to have her around nonetheless. So that's how it was for five years, me pining for her love while she didn't know of its existence.

It was one day in the end of the summer when I finally got the courage to tell Abigail that I loved her and always have. Unfortunately, that did not go well. She had just become engaged to a wealthy pureblood wizard and they would be getting married by the end of that month. I was devastated, and I did not know what to do with myself. Like most men usually do, they drown their sorrows into a bottle, and that is exactly what I did. But I did not know the repercussions of my actions.

One night, the night of Abigail's wedding, I went out and got the drunkest had ever been. Let's just say even to this day I cannot remember what had happened that night. I woke up in my bed with the sound of someone banging on my door. I was very confused because I could not extract from my mind what I had done the night before no matter how hard I tried. As I opened the door, there standing behind it was my love, Abigail. She went on to say that she didn't get married at that she was in love with me. But the minute she saw some woman walking out of my bedroom, she gasped and had tears coming down her eyes. I called for her to come back as she ran away, but that was the last time that I would ever see her.

I was shocked to say the least when I saw the woman in my house, while she herself was as shocked as I was. It would seem in our drunken stupor, that we ended up at my place and did some things that I would not like to mention in front of my granddaughter at the moment. She quickly left in embarrassment, and I was quiet embarrassed myself, but I was also heart broken. Abigail, the one woman that I loved most in the world, was driven away by me because of one bad mistake I made.

It was two months later when I found out that the woman was pregnant with my child. She had found me at my place, and explained that she would be keeping the baby. I of course did that right thing and was there for her the entire time she was pregnant. Leila was her name, and we became very good friends up until the day she had passed away.

She gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. She named her Annabel, and she was the light of my life. I went and saw her as much as I could. I was very busy at the time, but I would always take my time out to go and see my little girl.

As she got older, she got married to a nice young wizard named Charles, and they had a son name Frank. By that time, Leila had passed away from an early sickness, and I was the only one that Annabel had left. So like her mother, I was there for Annabel as much as I could be while she was pregnant. And like Annabel, I watched Frank grow up and lose his mother as well. It was a tragedy when she passed away, Annabel meant everything to Frank.

At the time of Annabel's passing, Frank and I became very distant with each other. He was truly upset, and I guess I reminded him too much of his mother. So once he turned twenty-one, he left England and started to travel. His true passion had always been magical creatures; he wanted to save them from the muggles who were cutting down the forest where they resided. It was in Romania where Frank fell in love with Ella's mother, and where they had stayed until Ella's birth. Her mother died of complications in the pregnancy.

So when Frank returned to England, it was with a little baby girl. He told me that at first he did not want to take her to see me, but changed his mind because he thought it would be good for Ella to personally know a family member that was close by.

So there Frank was, in my office at Hogwarts with a little bundle in his hands. The minute I laid eyes I the child, I knew she was special. She was like no child I had ever seen, and I knew at that moment that I needed to protect her no matter what."

"Oh, Albus," Lily said as he finished his story. "That is so sad, but also so very lovely."

She was in tears the whole way through the story. Even Sirius was made speechless by Dumbledore's tragic life made known. He could not believe a happy man like Albus living a life of tragedy and sadness. He felt bad for the way he had treated the old man, like he was some kind of criminal disguising himself as good.

"Imagine that you have to lose someone else important to you again," James said. "I truly am sorry about your for the loss of your grandson."

"Thank you, James," Dumbledore said. "But it is not me you should be saying that to, but Ella. If anything, she was the one that lost the most the other night."

Everyone was quiet, especially Ella. She was just taking in everything her grandfather had just told everyone in the room. She had not known about any of that, her father didn't like to talk much about his family. Now she knew that it was probably the loss of his mother that made him that way.

"Now, Ella," Dumbledore interrupted her thoughts. "I would really appreciate it if you would tell us everything you know about what happened the other night."

"I don't really know where to start," she replied doubtfully. "But I will try."

Everyone waited with baited breath to hear what she would say. They were all very curious on her perspective of last night's terrible event. After all, she was the only one that was there that had actually survived the vicious attack of the death eaters.

"I remember that I knew something was coming," she said. "You could feel it in the air. I'm pretty sure my dad felt it as well. That is why he contacted Uncle John, he wanted him to take me away to stay with him and his family in the America's. He was supposed to come and pick me up today, but it was obviously too late.

When the death eaters arrived in the village, dad took me to his study where he had hidden a secret underground room if the death eaters did ever come unexpectedly. I stayed down in the room like he told me to; and even as I heard him scream in pain and I wanted to go and help him, I knew that I had to do what he asked of me. It wasn't long until I heard a loud voice scream the words for the killing curse and my dad's last screams. Everything was quiet after that, except the man that was walking around upstairs in the house. But he left soon after he killed my father."

"What about the man that had saved you?" Albus asked his granddaughter, feeling as if she might be leaving something out.

"I can't remember much about him other than he had black hair and black eyes," she said. "He was also very kind to me, and tried to comfort me the best he could, even though he did not seem like the comforting type."

"Is that all you can tell us? He didn't tell you his name, or have any distinct feature's that you can tell us?"

"No," she simply replied, but Dumbledore knew better. She was lying, and he wanted to know why. But first they had to take care of some business.

"So, since we have got that cleared," said Dumbledore. "Now we need to find you a place to stay for a few months."

"Can't I stay with you, grandpa?" she asked in a hopeful tone.

"As much as I would love for you to stay with me little one, I'm afraid it would not be the best or safest idea at the moment. Imagine if people were to find out that you were my granddaughter. You could be in more danger than you already are, and I will not allow that to happen."

Ella just nodded her head in understanding, but also disappointment. She did not want to stay with someone that she did not know. Lily looked at Ella and how upset she was that she wasn't able to stay with Albus. At that moment, she didn't care what her husband said, she wanted to take in this poor young child. She had been through way too much, and to move her again to somewhere she didn't know would be a very unfortunate thing.

"James," Lily said her husband's name in a way that he knew what was coming. "Can we go talk in the other room?"

James just got up out of his chair and went into the kitchen where no one could overhear their conversation.

"I know what you're going to say," he said as they were in the kitchen alone. "And you know how I feel about Ella coming and staying with us."

"Oh my dear," Lily said with the most heartbroken look that James had ever seen her give him. "She is just a little girl, and she is getting used to being here already. I can't see someone so young like her getting passed down from person to person and not knowing where she will end up. Please, James. I'm just asking for this one thing from you."

"There's no need for any of that, Lily," James replied to his wife's pleading, taking ahold of her hand to give her some kind of reassurance. "I already made up my mind when I saw how forlorn that girl looked when she wouldn't be staying with her grandfather but going somewhere unknown. You are right when you say that it would not be good for her to be passed down from place to place. So, she can stay if she would like to."

"Really, James," Lily said excitedly. "You are the best husband that anyone could ever have."

Both James and Lily walked out of the kitchen with smiles directed toward Ella. Everyone looked up at them as they walked into the room.

"By the look on your faces, I am guess that you have decided to let Ella stay," Dumbledore said, his words full of gratitude.

"Yes," Lily replied. "We have decided that if it was alright with Ella, she could stay with us if she would like too."

Ella was shocked by what she was hearing; she was so sure that she would be going to live with someone else than the Potter's, especially with the conversation they had that morning.

"I don't know if I should," she confessed truthfully. "You have your son to worry about, and me being here is a threat to all of your lives."

"Our lives are threatened even if you didn't stay with us," James was the one who said this, repeating the words of his wife. "In times like these, we need to stick together. So what do you say Ella, do you want to stay with us?"

Ella smiled and nodded her head saying, "Yes, it would be very nice to stay with you. Thank you so much."

"No thanks are needed," it was Sirius who said this. "They both are complete suckers and would have taken you in their home in the end."

"Now that we have resolved everything that needed resolving, I will have to leave."

"Why so soon, grandpa? Couldn't you just stay for a little while longer? I've missed you so much."

"And I have missed you too my dear," Dumbledore said walking over to his granddaughter and giving her a hug. "But I'm afraid that I am a very busy wizard, and with the war, everyone is looking to me for support. You don't worry though, I promise to come and visit soon."

"Okay," Ella said knowing that she was just going to have to except that her grandfather was someone important and couldn't be with her twenty-four seven.

"Why don't you follow me into the Potter's backyard where I will be Apparating, I need to ask you something before I left."

She just nodded her head at his request, already knowing what he was going to ask and trying to think of what it was she should tell him.

As Albus said his goodbyes to the Potter's and Sirius, and kissed baby Harry's little head, him and Ella headed out through the kitchen to the backyard. He stopped when they were standing next to a tall tree.

"So, Ella," Dumbledore began. "Tell me the truth about the man that saved you. I know you know who it is, and I would really like to know if you can tell me. I don't like that you are keeping secrets from me, or even fill like you need to."

"You might get mad if I tell you," she said. "I liked him very much, and he was so nice to me."

"Can you tell me something?"

"I guess. He was there in the village while the raid was happening, he lied in the letter when he said that he was walking by when he saw what had happened."

"And why would he lie?"

"You already know why, grandpa."

"He was one of the death eaters, wasn't he?"

She nodded her head as her head was bowed looking to the ground. As she confirmed this, she felt as if she were betraying Severus.

"Do you know the name of this death eater?"

"Yes," she relied. "He told me it himself."

"Can you tell me?"

"You aren't going to go find him and hurt him are you grandpa. He didn't do anything, and he doesn't really like being a death eater. He just feels like that's the only place where he fits in, which isn't true because I know that deep down he is a very good person."

"Calm down, Ella. I would never hurt the man who had saved my granddaughter. I promise you I won't."

"Okay," she said feeling much better about telling her grandfather the truth. "He said his name was Severus."

"Severus Snape," Dumbledore replied, almost in a shocked manner. It surprised Ella because she never knew anything could ever bewilder him.

"I don't know if Snape is his last name, he never mentioned it."

Ablus only nodded his head and said, "Don't worry about it, I know who he is."

"Are you sure you aren't going to hurt him?"

Dumbledore laughed and replied, "No sweetie, I would do not such thing. Now give me a hug and I will see you very soon, alright."

"Okay," she said as she went over and hugged him one more time, and he once he let go of her, he disappeared out of the backyard.

Ella sighed and went back to the house that she would be living in until she left for Hogwarts.

* * *

**I just wanted to give all of you a heads up on the next chapter. It will be taking place nine months after this one when Ella is finally at Hogwarts. There might be another time skip after that chapter as well. We'll see how it goes.**


	9. Ch 8: Visions, Deaths and Revelations

Chapter 8: Visions, Deaths and Revelations

**Disclaimer: **There is only one true owner of Harry Potter, and that is J. K. Rowling.

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Changing and Chances

_Ella was back in the Potter house in Godric's Hollow, and everything was as she remembered it. She saw James running after Harry trying to chase the little boy of about one year's old, and Lily was laughing at the sight of them as she brought in two cups of tea for James and herself. It was like she had never left, that she really wasn't at Hogwarts in the Gyrffindor's common room sleeping in her bed, but she was there with the Potter family as they enjoyed their night together perfectly safe in their cozy home._

_Ella was enjoying her dream as she watched the lovely family that had taken her in when she needed a home playing and laughing with each other. It made her feel good that they were doing okay and that they were out of harm's way. Voldemort would not be able to get to them as long as he didn't know where they were, and he would never find out. _

_It was a loud sound coming from the outside of the house that stopped her heart and made her realize that her faith in them being safe just might come crashing down. If that noise was what she thought it was, than she was sure that James, Lily and Harry were in trouble. She had to wake up, she had to worn someone that they weren't safe anymore, that they were found. But she couldn't wake up. It was like her body would not allow it. So she stayed in the Potter house, and watched the horrible things that would be taking place that night._

_"Lily he's here!" Ella heard James shout. "Take Harry and go."_

_Lily didn't question her husband; she grabbed ahold of Harry and ran into the other room. Ella wanted to follower her, but she could not move herself and stayed in the living room. She got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that she was going to be seeing something that she didn't want to._

_She saw the door blast off its hinges and standing there was the most hideous person she ever saw in her life. She felt the waves of hatred, murder and death rolling off of him. She had no doubts that the man she saw was Voldemort. By simply looking at him, she had chills running down her spine. _

_James was ready for a fight, he had his wand out doing everything he could to protect his family. Bright lights flew out of each of their wand aimed right at each other. But it all stopped the minute a green light flew out of Voldemort's wand hitting James right in the chest. The roof of wear the blast hit had a big gaping hole in it, and on the ground was James, dead._

_Ella screamed at the sight of it, she could not believe that this was happening. She did not want to see anymore, she begged not to see anymore because she knew what would be happening next. But again, whatever was holding her there did not comply too her wishes. She found herself walking to the room that Lily ran into with Harry, and Voldemort was doing the same thing as she was._

_Her heart beat got louder and louder as they got closer to Harry's room. She wanted to scream or yell, do something other than watch the deaths of very good friends of hers. As Voldemort made it down the hall and to the door, Ella fought with herself from going inside the room as well. But the other side of her that told her to go into the room won._

_"Take me, not Harry!" screamed Lily with tears running down her eyes as she stood in front of her son. "Please not Harry!"_

_"Step aside woman," she heard the rough voice of Voldemort say to the Lily._

_"Please not Harry, Please!" was all Lily could say._

_That was when Ella saw him take out his wand, and with the flash of the bright green light, Lily lay dead on the floor of her sons room._

_Nooooo! Ella screamed inside her head as she saw Lily laying there and not moving. It was the worst thing that she had ever seen her entire life. Such a wonderful loving woman who had so much going for her, dead from just two simple words._

_Quickly Ella's fears turned toward Harry, who was sitting there, not understand what was going on. Not realizing that in a few sort seconds, he was not going to be alive anymore. Ella's heart broke as she looked at the little boy that she had learned to love like a brother. He was so tiny and fragile, and she couldn't begin to fathom someone being so evil that they could hurt a child as precious as him or any child at all._

_But Ella was helpless in doing anything. All she could do is watch as Voldemort raised his wand in the air and said those two dreaded words._

_"Avada Kedavra!" Instantly the green light poured out of his wand, and went straight towards Harry._

_I all was happening in slow motion. Ella watched as the green light of the killing curse bounced off of Harry, and went straight back to Voldemort. After that, everything was quiet. Harry was still alive, and Voldemort was nowhere to be found._

Ella woke up with a start with tears in her eyes and sweat cascading down her face. She knew what she saw was not just a dream, but something that was very real. What she needed to know was, did it already happen or did she see something that was about to take place.

She knew what she needed to do. So she instantly got out of bed and head into the Gyrffindor common room and out the portrait hole and into the castle hallways.

"What are you going young lady?" the Fat Lady asked her. "You should not be out of bed this late."

But Ella just ignored her, knowing that she had to get where she was going quickly.

"How rude," Ella heard the Fat Lady remark after she ignored her question and reprimand.

Ella rushed down the halls as fast as she could do, praying that she didn't run into anyone, especially Filch or Mrs. Norris his annoying ugly cat. He would most likely take her to Professor McGonagall, which would only slow her down in her way to the headmaster's office where she knew she could find her grandfather.

She was relieved when she finally made it to the third floor and could see the gargoyle that sat in watch over the headmaster's office. She rushed over to where it stood and without any thought said, "Sherbet Lemon."

The gargoyle stepped aside as she said the correct password. The stairs started to turn and make their way to the top. Ella stepped onto the circulating staircase and went up all the way to the oak double doors that would lead her into her grandfather's office. She could hear voices that sounded almost like a whisper to her from outside the door, but she was sure were much louder inside. She did not bother to knock, she had no time for that. So she barged right in and shocked the two men that were talking in the office. One of them was her grandfather and the other was her know Potions Professor, Severus Snape.

She looked at them with a haunted look in her eyes that scared the both of them. She couldn't help it and she launched herself at the first thing she could find comfort in, and that just happened to be Severus. The young Professor looked over to the Headmaster Dumbledore with a bewildered stare, and Dumbledore gave him the same look. What could have frightened this girl so much that it would bring her to the headmaster's office in tears?

"He found them," cried Ella as her voice was muffled by her head being buried into Snape's teaching robes. "Voldemort found them."

Snape tensed as he heard her words. How could this be? Dumbledore was so sure that they would be safe, that his Lily would be safe.

"How do you know this, Ella?" asked her grandfather, trying to keep calm as the situation at hand needed him to be.

"I saw it," she wept even harder. "I saw him come into their house. He first killed James, I saw him lying on the floor not moving, just gone to the world. He then went into Harry's room where Lily was with Harry. There was nothing I could do as I saw her begging him for her son's life with her own, and she too was killed."

"What about the boy?" Dumbledore asked in complete shock at what he was hearing. "What happened to Harry?"

"It was so amazing, grandpa," she said taking her face away from Severus's robes to look at him but was still holding onto Snape tightly. "It bounced right off of him and went straight for Voldemort, and then, he was just gone."

It was silent in the office other than Ella's soft sobs that she just couldn't seem to make go away. Severus didn't realize it, but he was unconsciously rubbing soothing circles onto the young girls shoulder. Snape felt compassion for the girl, and how traumatized she was by what she saw in her dream. But that's all it could be, right. It was just a dream she had from being worried about the Potter's. He wasn't so sure about that when he saw the serious look upon Dumbledore's face. Could it be that Dumbledore knew something that he didn't?

"Severus," Dumbledore said his name in a serious tone of voice. "I want you to go and check on the Potter house and see what is going on. I want you to report back to me as soon as you possibly can. I would like to know what is going on. If Ella is correct, than the Potter's might have possibly died tonight, and Voldemort could be as well."

"Yes, sir," he said. "You need to let go of me now, Ella."

Ella nodded and let go, but she was so weak the minute she did, her legs gave out on her. She would have hit the floor if Severus had not caught her. He looked concerned for a minute, but then figured she was fine and that she was probably just exhausted. He set her down onto a coach that her grandfather had magically produced into his office.

"I'll be back quickly," he said and then left the office.

Ella just curled herself up on the coach and tried to calm herself down. He grandfather went over to where she was laying on the coach, bent down in front of her, and started rubbing her hair. His heart broke at seeing her in tears and so upset.

Dumbledore just stayed with her until her sobs were just whimpers.

"You did a good job, Ella," he spoke to her softly. "Not many people could see what you did and be able to have the courage to make it here to tell me."

"I knew I had to tell you," she replied in a small whisper, her voice rough from crying so much. "I knew that out of anyone, you would believe me."

"You are right. I do believe what you said was true and that it was most likely that the Potter's were killed tonight."

Tears started running down Ella's face again.

"I was afraid you were going to say that. I was hoping that maybe it would happen yet, and that their lives could be spared."

"You know, sweetie," he said in a fatherly tone. "Life doesn't always work that way, especially with visions like the one you had. Sometimes things are just set in stone, and there is nothing you can do to stop them from happening."

She only nodded her head and listened to what he said. She was still hoping though that they would be fine and could be warned.

"I know what you are thinking, Ella," said Dumbledore. "And its best you don't. Hoping for something that has possibilities of not taking place will only lead you to more sorrow and grief. It is always a smart thing to get ready to hear the worst."

"Why are you telling me this grandpa?" her tone of voice showing how upset she really was. "Why are you trying to make me feel even worse?"

"I'm not trying to make you feel worse. I'm trying to make you understand that you can't save the world. Bad things are going to happen, and sometimes you have to face them head on."

"But I like the Potter's. They don't deserve to die."

"A lot of people don't deserve to die, but they do. Death is a natural thing, and it is occurring every day at every time. The sooner you come to realize that, the easier it will be for you."

There conversation was interrupted by Severus walking into the office with a pale face and a stiff body. Ella instantly knew what she saw in her dream had already taken place and that there was nothing she or anyone could have done to change it. Her grandfather was right, and some things in life were just set in stone.

"I want to know?" Severus questioned Dumbledore as he glared at him. "I want to know how she knew. Is she a Seer, or is it something else entirely."

Dumbledore was speechless. He did not know what to say. He had made an unbreakable vow with his grandson to never tell a soul about Ella.

"It's because I have Romanian elf blood running through my veins," Ella said as she stood up from the coach and faced Severus.

She lifted her long hair away from her face and uncovered her ears, which were slightly pointed at the top. Severus just stood there shocked as he looked at Ella, and then at her ears.

"How could that be possible?" Severus said to himself quietly. "They are only stories and fairytale's."

"To you maybe," she replied. "But they are very real to me. They are my family."

The truth in Ella's voice was undeniable. She was not lying about this, and Severus knew that. Why should she lie, she has no reason too.

"I see now why he wanted you so bad. Why he would do anything to have you. You are truly something unique and special. What is it that you really can do?"

"I'm not quite sure how to explain it," she said.

"I can," Dumbledore finally spoke.

"No, grandpa," Ella said in a panic. "What about the unbreakable vow."

"That does not apply to Severus anymore, because has already found out by you. You see, that was the vow between you and your father. I would not be able to speak of it to anyone that did not know the truth from either you or your father. Now that he knows, I can talk freely about it without my life being in any kind of danger."

"Then I would like to know," Severus said.

"Right now isn't the best time, do you not agree. The Potter's had just been killed, and Voldemort has disappeared. How is the boy, Severus?"

"He seemed fine to me."

"Good. I will have Hagrid go and get him. Now if you would do me a favor Severus, and take my granddaughter back to her dorm, I am sure she needs some much needed sleep. We will speak about the other matter tomorrow after I get things settled."

"Of course, sir," he said.

As Severus walked Ella back to her dorm, he was very quiet. He had lost his love tonight and was feeling a terrible heartbreak from it. Lily had been everything to him, and now she was gone.

"Severus," Ella said, interrupting his thoughts. He looked and saw that they were at the Fat Lady portrait. "I'm so sorry about Lily. I knew that you loved her. I can just imagine how you must be feeling right now. And I know you asked me to never talk about that, it's just I couldn't help it. You look so lost and confused."

"It is alright, Ella," he said gently, not wanting to get mad at her. "I did love her, and still do."

"Remember, that she isn't completely gone. No matter how much you hated her husband James, and I know Harry looks like him a lot. He also has Lily in him as well. It's mostly his eyes."

She smiled up at him, said the password to get into the common room, and crawled into the portrait hole.

As Severus walked back to the dungeons, he thought about what Ella said. 'It's mostly his eyes.'


	10. Chapter 9: Learning the Truth About Ella

Chapter 9: Learning the Truth About Ella

**Disclaimer: **There is only one true owner of Harry Potter, and that is J. K. Rowling.

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Changing and Chances

The next morning at Hogwarts, the Great Hall was in chaos with students cheering and celebrating the death of the most hated wizard of all time, Voldemort. There was only one student who wasn't celebrating along with the other students. Ella was distraught and in pain over James and Lily's death. Nine months she had stayed with them, and during that time, Ella had become very close to the whole Potter family. To have to watch and see such beloved friends die right in front of you, but you could not do anything about it, was the most awful thing that she had ever had to experience, right next to hearing her father being murdered.

Her grandfather watched in concern as he saw the disheartened look upon his granddaughters face. Dumbledore wasn't the only one watching her; Severus was keeping an eye on her as well. He saw as she just sat there not eating anything from her plate, just picking at it with her fork. He could understand how she felt, because he was feeling the same thing at the moment. He was there at the Potter house last night, and could only imagine what Ella had seen in her dream.

Thinking of the dream that Ella had made Severus remember what he found out the other night. 'A half elf,' he thought to himself in astonishment. 'I thought the only elves around were those nasty ugly looking house elves?' It was quite obvious to see that Ella wasn't anything close to nasty or ugly looking, if he would say so himself, she might even be more beautiful than those annoying veela. She had none of the beauty that someone would lust after like them, but more of a pure and innocent beauty that overwhelmed you with a warm and comforting glow whenever you set eyes on her.

He instantly took notice when Ella stood up from her seat and walked her way out of the Great Hall with not even a backwards glance at her friends that were calling her. He was about to stand up and go after her, wanting to make sure that she was alright, but Dumbledore held out his hand to halt his movement. He just shook his head at Severus and went back to eating his breakfast. Severus was angered by this, how could he simply not do anything for the poor girl, she was probably very dejected and all the old man did was go back to eating his breakfast. He might have not liked it, but he did as Dumbledore wanted and stayed seated for the rest of breakfast, but not eating being able to eat another thing.

It was after breakfast was over when Dumbledore walked over to him and patted him on the shoulder and said, "Meet me in my office, son." And then he left as if he didn't say anything.

As Severus walked to the headmaster's office, he contemplated at what exactly Dumbledore wanted to talk to him about. Maybe it had something to do with the up and coming death eater trials. What if he was being tried against as a death eater? It was common knowledge that he once was a devoted follower to Voldemort, and what if they didn't believe Dumbledore when he told them he had changed sides and was a spy for him. After all, Dumbledore was the one who found him and asked him to become his spy. Why he did this, Severus never knew? But he was glad that he did. At the time, he was tired of being a death eater, especially after saving Ella. He slowly started changing after that, realizing the error of his ways.

The feeling of dread followed him all the way up to the oak doors of Dumbledore's office. He composed himself before he knocked on the door and entered as he heard Dumbledore's short reply to come in.

"Why are you so tense my boy?" was the first thing that he asked Severus as he walked through the door.

"There's no keeping anything from you, is there," was Severus's reply, which was not as warm as Dumbledore's greeting. "Now what is it you called me in here for, I have a potion brewing in my lab that I need to attend to."

Severus walked over to the large desk that the headmaster was sitting behind and took a seat on one of the two chairs set in front of the desk. He always felt weary when he was around or speaking to Dumbledore. It was like he was looking right through, ready to catch him doing something he shouldn't be doing.

"I asked you to come into my office because I wanted to ask something very important of you," Dumbledore was very serious when he said this, so whatever it was he wanted to ask, Severus knew it was something very pressing. "I am worried about Ella. But since I have just recently been given the position of headmaster here at Hogwarts and with the end of this war finally over, I don't have anytime to keep an eye on her."

"That's understandable," Severus retorted. "But I don't get why this has anything to do with me?"

"Don't you see Severus. I'm asking you to watch over Ella when I can't. She seems very fond of you, and I know that you care for her. I hope that I am not asking to much from you."

"I'm not really sure what watching over her really entitles. What exactly are you asking me to do?"

"Just be there for her when she needs someone. Not only that, but I was also hoping that if during the summer breaks if you would be willing to take her in. As headmaster, I am required to stay here at Hogwarts during the summer time, and me being her guardian she would than have to stay here at Hogwarts. I just don't want to have to leave her alone in a large castle all alone every year."

Severus seemed to contemplate what Dumbledore was telling him. He couldn't believe that he was actually considering taking Ella in. But he really did care about the girl in some ways, and also didn't like the idea of her being alone every summer. She would also be a big help to with his research that he plans to be doing during the summer when Hogwarts is let out.

"I will only agree to this if Ella does," Severus replied. "It would not be fare to her if you force her to do something that she does not wish to do."

Dumbledore nodded his head acknowledging Snapes condition, and of course he was ahead of him.

"Yes, I figured you would say that. That is why I had already asked for Minerva to escort Ella to my office."

There was a knock at the door.

"And that is probably them now. Come in."

In walked Professor McGonagall with Ella right behind her. Ella looked to be crestfallen and not really paying attention to what was going on around her, and Professor McGonagall was just curious to know what was going on.

"Thank you Minerva, you can leave now."

It's seemed that that was the last thing that she wanted to do, but did not dare question Dumbledore and just simply left his office. Ella watched as her Transfiguration's Professor left, not really comprehending what exactly was going on. Why had her grandfather called her to his office, and what was Professor Snape doing there?

"Come dear, take a seat. There is somethings that we need to discuss."

Ella walked hesitantly over to the other seat that was next to the one Severus was sitting in. As she sat down, she felt somewhat uncomfortable at both her grandfathers and Professor's long calculating stares. It was like she was something that was broken and they were trying to figure out how to put her together. She didn't really like that.

"Will you stop staring at me like that and tell me what it is I am doing here," she said getting irate with them. "Because if this isn't important, I would really like to get back to the library."

"Do not fret my dear, this is something quite important," Dumbledore spoke. "And both Severus and I thought that it would not be right to go ahead without asking your permission first."

"Grandpa, what is this about?" she questioned him, not fathoming what it was that he could be talking about.

"I have been very concerned about you lately, and after last nights events, I have been pondering a few matters that I would like to bring up with you. Would you like to hear what I have to say."

"Of course," she said respectfully. "You are my guardian and great grandfather, I am supposed to listen to you."

"I know how much you cared about James and Lily," Dumbledore began. "And I am truly sorry what you had to see last night. Their deaths were a true tragedy, and they will be missed greatly."

"Barty Crouch Jr, the man who had told Voldemort the prophecy about Harry, he is going to go to Azkaban isn't he. I also heard about what the Lestrange's and him did to Frank and Alice Longbottom. With what they have done, I don't think they even deserve a trail or to live."

"I understand your anger, many are angry with what the death eaters have done to some very good people, but revenge will not solve our problems. I see it like this. If we kill them, we are no better as them."

"Your right, grandpa," Ella said bowing her head in shame at her vengeful words. "Lets not talk about that anymore. Now what was it that you wanted to ask me before I changed the subject?"

"Oh, yes. I wanted to ask you if you remembered about how the Potter's offered for you to stay with them over the summer times when school was out?"

"Yes, I remember," speak in a low tone, almost as if she did not want to talk about that.

"Well, since there is no way for me to watch over you during the summer times, I asked Severus here if he would do that for me. That is what we wanted to ask you, if that would be acceptable to you?"

Ella looked at both men, especially Severus trying to gauge is reaction to what her grandfather was asking of him. Ella did not mind at all if she went with Severus over the summer, she felt a deep connection to him that she could not yet understand. She would always feel very comfortable in his presence. Her only problem was she wasn't sure how he felt about the situation. She did not wish to be a burden to him, she really wanted him to like her.

"Is this okay with you?" is what she asked Severus, not wanting to impose on the only vacation he gets away from the students.

"I would not mind in the least," he told her kindly, giving her one of his true genuine smiles that he seemed to only give her.

"Than I guess it's alright with me," she said as she looked at her grandfather, pleased that Snape did not mind her being around.

"You don't know how much of a relief it is to me to know that Ella will be with someone that will keep her safe. I know that summer break is supposed to be your vacation time, and I really am thankful that you could do this for me."

"I'm not doing it for you," Severus replied. "I'm doing it for Ella. I don't think it would be healthy for her to be stuck in this castle until she finishes school. After all, that is why we take summers off, to get a break from Hogwarts castle and school. Which I must say I am thankful for. I do not know if I can handle any of these dunderhead students if there was not at least sometime away from them."

Ella giggled at how he called the students dunderheads. He grinned at her for thinking his statement about the students was funny.

Dumbledore watched them with a twinkle in his eyes. His plan was working out just fine.

"I think that it is time to tell you more about Ella than, if you are going to be around her a lot."

This quieted both Severus and Ella for different reasons. Severus because he was now curious, and Ella because she was feeling unsure about Snape knowing everything about her. For so long she had kept from people what it exactly was her elf heritage had gifted her with, and she wasn't positive she wanted anyone to know. But than she had to remember that this was Severus, the man that had saved her life. She trusted him as much as she trusted her grandfather, and knew he would never do anything to hurt her.

"I will start from the beginning back when I myself ran into these elfin creatures in my younger years when I decided to go and see the world. I was around a large Romanian forest that I knew held many dark creatures. I was look for something, a rare plant from what I could remember, but instead found something much more intriguing. I met there an elfin man who had realized I had spotted him. This usually does not happen because they put a very strong spell on themselves to keep wizards and muggles from noticing or finding them. The only one that could see them are people with pure intentions, which is why not many people do see them, because rarely does anyone have good intentions anymore."

Severus was very interested in Dumbledore's story and listened intently. Ella did as well, never hearing it herself.

"The elfin mans name was Cian, and he was very kind. He had brought me to his tribe and introduced me to the chief. Once they know that you are no harm to them, they are a very kind creatures and also hospitable. I had stayed with them for a week and learned many things from them about their race, but before I had left, I had promised to never repeat any of it. As you can see though, that has changed, because it so happens the tribe that I met, is the tribe were Ella's mother Adela had come from. It so happens that the chief I had met was her father. So I do not see that it is any wrong of me to explain some of their history."

"I didn't know you knew grandfather Isidore?" Ella questioned her grandfather, wonder what else he knew that he was keeping from her.

"Yes, that is because your father wished for you not to know. So I respected his wishes. Anyways, I think I should get back to what I was going to say before I get distracted.

Now while I was with the Romanian elf tribe, and from what I recall the tribes name was Antiquis which means ancient ones. They had told me many stories, the most interesting one in my opinion is how they had ended up in hiding. It was over one thousand years ago and there was a war between the wizards and some of the other magical creatures. The Romanian elf tribes were feared by many, especially the wizards, they felt as if they had too much power and would use it against them. So while this war was raging, many of the elf tribes were killed or taken into slavery. Very few elf tribes survived, but the ones who did felt like they could not trust the outside world anymore. That is when three of the tribe's chief's came together and thought it the best idea to put a spell on themselves so they would never be found again. So to this day, they stay hidden to the world, only talked about in our stories as creatures who live in the tree's of the forest."

"Dyrad's," Ella said.

"Yes, exactly."

"What else did you learn that I should know?" Severus asked, even more interested now than before.

"There are many gift's that these elfin creatures were given, and since Ella is a Romanian elf, she also possess some of these gifts. But I think that is not my choice to tell you, but Ella's. If you wish to Ella, I think you should be the one who explains this part."

Ella sighed in defeat. She didn't want to make Severus think that she didn't trust him, so she sucked in a large breath and got herself ready to expose herself for who she truly was.

"I am only half elf, so I do not have as many of the powers that the other full blooded elves do. Like they are more intuitive and have many visions of the future, where as I only have very few, I mainly just get feelings that I like to call intuition. Other than that there is a lot of other things that I can do like speak with animal telepathically, heal wound, and I can make plants grow faster. From what I know though, that is pretty much the only things that I can do."

Severus listened in amazed. It all seemed so far-fetched and unbelievable. He knew that if it was someone else telling him this, he would have not believed a word they said.

"Is that all I really need to know?" he asked, not sure if there was more to all of this.

"No, that's about it," Ella replied.

"So are we done here because I need to get back to my potion?" Severus said indifferently as if he hadn't heard what he just did.

"First you must promise to never repeat any of this to anyone," Dumbledore said cautiously.

"Don't worry, I would never do that," Severus said with tone that said you can trust me.

"Very well, get back to your potion, and I'm sure you would like to get back to the library, Ella."

"Yes I would."

"Than you are both dismissed."

Both Ella and Severus were beginning to leave the room when Ella remembered she wanted to ask her grandfather something.

"Grandpa?"

"Yes, Ella," he said looking up.

"What's going to happen to Harry?" she asked in concern.

"You don't need to worry about that dear," he told her sincerely. "I will take care of that."

Ella only nodded her head and left plagued with worry for the young boy she saw as a younger brother. Not knowing that it would be nine years until she would see the boy again.

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**AN: I did not like the other two chapters that I wrote, and so I decided to change them and put them all in one chapter. I also didn't like the idea of Snape being Ella's guardian, that would just be weird when they get together. I will be writing another chapter tonight and be posting it tomorrow.**


	11. Chapter 10: 10 Years Later

Chapter 10: 10 Years Later

**Disclaimer: **There is only one true owner of Harry Potter, and that is J. K. Rowling.

**AN: IMPORTANT NOTICE! If you did not see, I changed chapter 9 so I would recommend that you go back and read that, but you don't have to if you don't want. The only change I made was that Severus doesn't become Ella's guardian; I realized that was just too creepy. I laugh at myself for even thinking something like that up.**

**Anyways, for this chapter, as you can see the name of the title, there is going to be a ten year time skip. I am finally getting to the heart of the true story, and that is Harry's first year at Hogwarts. I wasn't planning for the part of Ella being young to be so long, it just somehow turned out that way. But since there is such a major time skip, I thought that I should give some general background information.**

**As you read last chapter you probably remembered that Dumbledore asked Severus if he could take Ella during the summer breaks, and both Severus and Ella agreed. So he has basically been training her in potions since she was a young girl, just imagine how talented in the art she is, especially since it was Severus Snape the greatest Potions Master ever who was teaching her. You will also know from the last chapter that Dumbledore had a plan and that was the reason why he asked Snape to watch her. You will find out what his plan was in this chapter. There is one more thing. In regards to the name of Ella's familiar, I named it after my aunt's cat that I absolutely loved as a child. You will also understand the connection with her patronus and familiar.**

**I think that's about it. Please enjoy the new chapter. :D**

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Changing and Chances

10 Years Later

Walking up to Hogwarts gates was a very nostalgic feeling for Ella; it was like her first day at Hogwarts all over again. This time though, she wasn't coming there as a student to be taught, but someone that was going to teach or more like assist in teaching. She was shocked and very surprised when she got the note from her grandfather asking her to come to be the assistant to the Potions Master and good friend of hers, Severus Snape. Something about the offer seemed a little fishy to her, but she wasn't going to complain, she needed a job and now she got one. Still, she was going to have a long chat with her grandpa, or should she say Professor Dumbledore.

She stood outside the front gate waiting for Professor McGonagall to let her in. She had just informed the castle's residence that she was here by sending out a message through her patronus, which so happened to be a raven. Of course it was just a coincidence that her familiar just happened to be a raven named Shadow. She had the bird since her fifth year at Hogwarts; it was a Christmas gift from Severus.

She knew that any moment now Minerva was going to walk out of the large castle and come up to the gate. She hadn't seen the Transfigurations Professor in two years, so she was really excited to finally get to know all her beloved Professors over again. She couldn't help but bounce on her feet in excitement, because out of all the Professors, there was one she was dying to see again. Severus and Ella have written frequently for three years since she went away to University to study Potions. They never once got to see each other in all that time, they were both way to busy. But now, she would finally be reunited with one of her best friends and best supporters in her quest to become a Potions Mistress.

Ella looked through the gate and saw the tall poised figure of Professor McGonagall coming her way. She smiled in happiness to see the older woman again. It wasn't until now that she realized that Hogwarts really felt like home to her, after all, it was the place where one of the only family member she had around actually resided. So in a sense, that really did make Hogwarts a home to her. After all, they do say that home is where the heart is, and her heart has always been with the people she cared about most.

Minerva was now at the gate releasing the protection shields that kept Hogwarts safe so she could come through. As the gate was opened, the first thing the Transfiguration Professor did was wrap Ella in a tight hug. Ella wasn't the only one that was excited, the Professors who knew she was coming, could not wait to see her again. Ella had been many of the Professors favorite students. Two of them were Professor Sprout the Herbiology Professor and Silvanus Kettleburn the Care of Magical Creatures Professor. Of course the only reason why she was excellent in these subjects was because of her heritage as a half elf, but no one knew that except her grandfather and Severus. Now Professor McGonagall was a different story. She was her Head of House and her second favorite teacher next to Professor Snape, and she knew that she was Minerva's favorite. Though, it definitely had something to do with her astounding abilities in Transfigurations. Her grandfather told her that she got that from her father and him, who were both Masters in Transfigurations.

"Oh Ella," Minerva squeezed her tighter, Ella wasn't sure if she was trying to greet her back to Hogwarts are kill her. "It has been so long since we have all seen you. You won't imagine how much we missed you, especially Severus. We are all so excited for your return."

"Thank you Professor," Ella said politely, trying to slowly breathe in and out.

"Please Ella, you are working at Hogwarts now," she said letting the poor girl finally go. "Just call me Minerva."

"Duly noted," she replied, still trying to get her breath back.

"We best get going. The headmaster wishes to see you before you get settled in."

"I figured as much. I have spent a long time with that old man, and over the years, he becomes quite predictable."

"Don't let him hear you saying that, it will make him aware of how transparent he is to you. I've noticed that it's because he doesn't have to have his guard up when he is around you, you set him free from having to be anyone else but himself. It is very sweet I think, seeing you two together. Severus and you are even cuter together."

Professor McGonagall had a sly grin on her face when she saw the blush on Ella's cheeks. She laughed to herself at how very easily embarrassed the young girl would get, even from the most innocent of comments.

"Does he know that I am here and going to be his assistant?" she asked because she didn't get any information out of her grandfather.

"You're going to have to take that up with the headmaster," was all she would tell her.

"Of course I will," she muttered in frustration. She swore that her grandfather trained the Professors at Hogwarts to do everything he says, that old man loves power way too much. Maybe that's why he had never accepted the job as Minister of Magic, he probably knew how power hungry he was and nipped it in the butt as soon as he could.

Both the Professor and she made their way to the headmaster's office where Dumbledore was almost most of the time. Minerva was silent after her question, probably trying very hard not to tell her something. Before she was just suspicious, now she knew for sure that something was going on.

As Minerva knocked on the double oak doors, Ella heard the sound of her grandfather's voice with his usual invitation to come in, and it overflowed her with the sense of finally being home. After her father died, her great grandfather, who she just called grandpa, was the only father figure that she had left. No matter what, he was always there for her when she needed him most. She loved her grandfather and would always will.

"My dear," Dumbledore said as he greeted Ella with a tight hug, maybe even tighter than McGonagall's. "You will not know how much I have missed you."

"Probably just as much as I've missed you," she replied, returning his tight hug.

"Let me take a look at you," he said releasing her and taking a step back. "I can't believe how grown up you look. Already twenty years old, it was like it was almost yesterday your father came into my office with you in his arms. I feel so old."

"You're not old grandpa. I have heard of many people much older than you, and they are still alive and kicking. You're forgetting that we wizards do not age as quickly as the muggles do."

Dumbledore laughed and said, "You always knew how to complement people. Maybe that's why things always swing your way."

"I only speak things that I believe are the truth," she told him, all amusement gone. "I would never lie to someone."

"I know you wouldn't sweetie," he said giving her one of his smiles and eye twinkle. "Now why don't we sit down and discuss some things. You can stay if you like Minerva."

"No, that is alright," she replied to his invitation. "I have to go prepare lesson plans for this year's first years. I will see you both later for dinner than."

"Yes," they both returned.

"Very well," she said as she left the office.

Ella looked around the office noticing nothing had changed since the first time she had walked in. Everything was exactly where she remembered it was. There was something comforting about that.

"Are you going to have a seat," her grandfather said bringing her back to reality.

"Oh, I was just admiring how you never change your office."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No, I like it," Ella said as she took a seat. "Change is so overrated."

"Well, that is something that I can agree with. But don't forget that change can be a good thing to sometimes."

"I guess," she muttered.

It was silent after that as Ella thought of how she should began. She knew that something was going on, but how was she supposed to get her grandfather to tell her. She decided that it was best to be blunt about it.

"So are you going to tell me the truth, or am I going to have to pry it out of you?"

"I have no idea what you are talking of," he said trying to look innocent, but Ella knew better. He was hiding something from her, and she did not like that.

"Don't play that innocent card with me old man," she said, now becoming irritated. She was not going to put up with his bull crap, and he was going to tell her what she wanted to know. "I knew there wasn't something quite right about you asking me to assist Severus. Does he even know?"

"He knows that he is getting an assistant," he retorted. "But he does not know that it is you. I figured it would be a nice surprise."

"A nice surprise for who?" she said this in an exasperated tone. "You know he is going to be very angry about this. Knowing you, you have probably told everyone else except for him. Do you like getting him worked up, because sometimes I think you do?"

"Nonsense, he will not be angry, in fact I think he will actually be delighted to find out that he does not have to deal with a stranger as his assistant. You see, he wasn't too happy with me when I said he has been overworking himself and needs help. When he found out I hired someone to assist him, he was even angrier. But once he finds out it is you, he will surely not be mad anymore. After all, you two work really well together."

Ella's eyes for the first time were opened. That was what he was hiding from her, she thought. Well he is not going to get away with this so easily.

"Now I get it?"

"Pardon?" he questioned her sudden outburst.

"That is why you wanted me to spend all those summers with Severus. I can't believe this. You had this whole thing planned out from the beginning. But what I would like to know is, why?"

"Is it not that obvious, Ella," he said, now not even trying to hide that it all really was a plan.

"Not really," she said, mad that he was not getting to the point.

"What year is it?"

"1991," she said, now very confused at where Dumbledore was going with this.

"Yes?"

"So, what does that mean?"

"It means it's the year that Harry Potter is coming to Hogwarts."

Ella could not believe that she had forgotten. For ten years she has been waiting to see Harry again, to make sure he was okay, to finally be able to talk to the boy she knew as a one year old little boy. To imagine that he was already eleven years old and going to Hogwarts, she could not believe how fast time had flew by.

"But I still don't understand…"

"Because out of anyone," he said interrupting her. "You knew his parents the most before they were killed by Voldemort. Not only that, you knew him as a child. He will gravitate toward you. You can now do what you have always felt you should do, and that is protecting him. I had asked Severus to keep an eye on him, to make sure he would not be harmed in anyway, and of course he can't refuse to protect the boy. But you, you have a connection to him that no one else does. You saw his parents die, and not only that, but you understand his pain better than anyone because you lost both of your parents as well."

"So that's why I'm here, to get closer to Harry. There's something else isn't there. You promised to never keep secrets from me again when I found out that Uncle John was the one that told Voldemort where to find me."

"I can't tell you right now, but I promise you when the time is right, I will tell you everything you need to know."

She was just going to have to take that for the moment. But she assured herself that she would not forget.

"Fine, if you want me to get close to Harry, than I will. Not because you asked me to, but because I want to."

"That is fine with me."

"Now, where will I be staying, I want to get settled in before dinner."

Dumbledore had one of those twinkles in his eyes, and Ella knew that that was a sign of trouble, for her.

"Oh," he said nonchalantly, as he picked out a lemon drop and popped it in his mouth. "You will be staying down in the dungeons in Severus's courters."

Ella's jaw nearly dropped to the floor at her grandfather's explanation of where she would be staying for the rest of her stay at Hogwarts, however long that would be.

"You got to be kidding me?" she said completely boggled. "It's freezing down there. I never knew how Severus could stand it. I always told him he should ask you for better sleeping courters, but he never listened. I refuse to sleep somewhere where I will be frozen to death the next morning."

"You will just have to bear with it," was all he said to her. "Now why don't you get going down to the dungeons where Severus is probably brewing like usual? I'm sure he will be excited to see you."

Ella just glared at her grandfather and left his office in a huff. He did this on purpose, was all she thought as she made her way down to the dungeons.

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**This is definitely going to be more fun now that Ella is older. The next chapter is going to be great. Severus reaction to Ella becoming his assistant.**


	12. Chapter 11: Watch Out Dumbledore!

Chapter 11: Watch Out Dumbledore!

**Disclaimer: **There is only one true owner of Harry Potter, and that is J. K. Rowling.

**AN: Okay, so sorry I haven't been able to update sooner, I've been really busy lately. I was watching my little cousin for my aunt and I have been really sick lately so I've been having a large amount of writers block. Anyways, back to why I am really writing this authors note. I have noticed when I read my stories that I am not fully satisfied with my writing. I am very weird about making sure my grammar and spelling are correct, and I see that I have been making some mistakes in that area. So, instead of posting a chapter every day, I will be posting one every other day or every two days depending on how it goes. I just really want you to read the best that I have, and if I post it a little later, than I will be able to read it over and edit what needs to be edited. Thank you, and enjoy this chapter because it was a lot of fun for me to write. :D**

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Changing and Chances

Ella was feeling a strange bout of Déjà vu as she walked down to the castle's dungeons. She was reminiscing about all the times she took the exact same trek she was at this very moment. She would usually go to ask Professor Snape for help or just to ask him questions about a certain potion she was studying. This wasn't something you would normally see any of the other students doing, but that was because they didn't know Severus like Ella did. He practically took care of her when her grandfather couldn't, and he was always there for her when she needed him most. He wasn't just her Professor, but he was the man that gave her a chance to survive, who saved her from a terrible fate. And he was lonely, even though he would not admit it. Ella didn't like to see that, and while at school, she kept him company as much as she could. And she herself enjoyed the time that she got to spend with him.

Thinking about her time at Hogwarts reminded Ella that Severus wasn't just her friend, but he was also her teacher. This thought made her really nervous all of a sudden. At the time she got her grandfather's letter, she hadn't thought about how awkward it might be for Severus to know that she would be assisting him. After all, he was her Professor only four years ago, and now instead of him teaching her, she was helping him teach. Besides, she didn't understand why her grandfather thought that Severus needed any help because he was a great Potions Professor all on his own; even if most of the kids wouldn't agree. He may scare the students, but he took his job seriously and always made an effort to make sure they were all learning what they needed to know. If he scared a few children on the way, than that was just an added bonus for him, or at least it was in his mind.

As Ella made her way down the stairs that would be taking her underground the castle, which is where the dungeons were located; she started to ponder exactly where it was she would be able to find the infamous Potions Master. She could always try the potions classroom first since it was the closest to where she was at the moment. If he wasn't there, she could always look in the one place she always knew she could find him, which was also the only place in Hogwarts castle that Severus spent most of his time in; his potions lab. If he was in his lab, she sure hoped he kept the entrance where it had been when she went to Hogwarts, and that he hadn't changed the password. But knowing Severus, it was probably exactly the same. He was a creature of habit, and hated having to change anything.

At the bottom of the stairs was a door that led into the room where Ella had brewed most of her potions during her Hogwarts years. The door was closed, but luckily for her it was not locked, which shocked Ella because Severus had always kept it locked, even when he was inside. As she opened the door and looked around her old classroom, she was disappointed but not surprised to find it empty.

Instead of leaving to go to Severus's lab, she decided to stay for a few minutes. She walked over to the table that she was seated at from the first day of school to her last day. She was the only first year in Gryffindor that was brave enough to actually sit in the front. She remembered how Professor Snape had to force Bill Weasley to sit next to her. Even though he was frightened, he didn't seem to mind sitting next to her. At the time, Ella didn't know that the only reason he complied with Professor Snape was because he had a major crush on her. She didn't find this out until her sixth year when he finally asked her to be his girlfriend, and of course she said yes because he was really nice and they had been good friends since their first year. Their relationship only lasted two months, that's when they finally realized that it was best they stayed just friends. The truth actually was, when they kissed, it felt to them like they were kissing a family member, and that was just too awkward.

Ella went out with a few more boys while she was at Hogwarts, the longest being a Ravenclaw boy in her fourth year named Aaron. They had dated the whole year and ended it in the beginning of their fifth year when she caught him making out with Halley Pierce a Ravenclaw girl. She was really upset after that, and remember turning to Severus for comfort. He was really kind about it, but she could see how uncomfortable he was with the situation. She stilled laughed about how extra nasty he was to Aaron that whole year, almost to the point where he made the boy run out of the class in tears. You too would understand how he felt if you were a Ravenclaw. Never in the history of the house of Ravenclaw had any student ever got as bad of a grade as Aaron Harris did on his O.W.L practice test. From what she heard from the other students that were in the same class as him, he had a big red T on his test.

After that incident, she hadn't dated very much, especially in University. Ella was dedicated to becoming a Potions Mistress, and until she did, she promised herself to put all of her time and effort into making it happen.

She sighed as she dreamed of the day she too would have her Masters in Potions like Severus, which would allow her to research anything she wished without asking permission. A huge grin slowly grew on her face and she felt a rush flow threw her veins. 'This is it,' she told herself. 'This is where my dream begins.'

She walked out of the potions classroom with a lot more eagerness than before. She would not worry about what Severus would say about her getting the assistant job. This was her one chance to finally do what she had dreamed of doing since she was a young girl, and no one was going to mess that up for her, not even Severus.

She stopped herself in an abandoned hallway that had one plain painting of an eagle that was hung up on the left side of where she was standing. In front of her she was facing a brick wall that had no significance signs that would indicate anything would be behind it. She produced her wand out of the one of her black boots that she was wearing and tapped the tip of it at the wall saying one word, _Anguis_. All of a sudden, the wall folded up into itself and reveled inside a laboratory that was very well lit and decent in size. Ella smiled to herself as she practically skipped her way through the entrance that led into Snape's private lab. As she entered, the brick wall behind her folded right back to its original state. She walked further into the room to see that on the right corner of the room working over a steaming caldron was the man that she was looking for.

She noticed that he had let his hair grow out since she last saw him. Either that or he had been too busy to get it cut. Suspecting by the way her grandfather said he needed help because he was working too hard, she would have to say that it was most likely the later. She shook her head at that. He was always one to put his work before himself. She would be taking care of that while she was here. As long as she was around, she would not allow him to neglect his health. Besides, it would be easy for her to convince him that he wasn't taking good care of himself, and if he didn't start, she was going to take drastic measures. Which would mean that she would have a nice long talk with Minerva? If there was one thing in this world that frightened Severus, that would be a very angry Professor McGonagall.

She breathed in to smell all the wonderful fragrances of the potions ingredients. That's why she always enjoyed hanging out in the lab with Severus as much as she could, she just loved the smell of all the potions being made. Her nose was so accustom to the certain smells of potions ingredients that she was able to immediately recognized the potion he was working with. It was a Pepperup Potion, because of the strong scent of the bicorn horn and mandrake root that was mixed together in the air. She never really did like taking that potion, and it wasn't just because of the few hours of steaming ears, it was more like the horrible taste it left in your mouth after you drank it. That is why she came up with a very efficient way of getting rid of the despicable taste.

"You do know," Ella spoke loudly, finally deciding that it was time for Severus to acknowledge her presence, if he hadn't already. "If you put a dash of mint in that potion, it will take away the disgusting after taste without ruining the effectiveness of the potion."

"And you know," Severus replied in the same tone of voice as Ella, not even bothering to look behind to see if it really was her because he had already picked up on her presence the minute she walked into his lab. "That Madame Pomfrey likes her potions made by the book, and if I do it any differently, I will surely get yelled at."

She noted the humor behind his words and couldn't keep the smile off of her face.

"That's right, I forgot that Madame Pomfrey is a sadist and loves to torture the children with nasty potions and mending broken bones back into place."

Severus laughed as he started bottling his finished potion.

"What, you didn't think you were the only person in the world who liked to torment children, did you?"

"No, but I was certain I was the only one at Hogwarts who did, but I guess I was wrong. It's such a shame to because now I have to share that title with Madame Pomfrey, the sweet little healer who is secretly an evil woman in disguise."

It was now Ella's turn to laugh. It had been a long time since she had heard his wonderful sarcastic humor that he just loved to use all the time. It seemed to rub off on her as well, because she would find herself calling some of her University classmates dunderheads. Of course when she said this, she meant it. There were some unqualified students who got into the University, but that wasn't because of their wonderful magic skills, it was more like the money their parents paid the school.

When Severus was done putting the rest of his potion in the bottles and corking them, he turned around and got a good look of the now much older Ella. There was something in his eyes when he looked at her that she never registered there before. It was almost like she was a precious jewel that he was trying to keep safe. This confused Ella, but she ignored it for the moment because there were a lot more important things they needed to discus.

"What are you doing here?" he finally spoke after he was finished with his staring.

"Well that's a nice way to greet someone you haven't seen in four years," Ella said in a mock hurt voice.

Severus only rolled his eyes at her and took his wand to clean up the mess left behind by the Pepperup potion he had just finished.

"Sorry, would you have rather of me say something along the lines of, it's so nice to see you again, Ella," his words were dripping with sarcasm.

"Yes, that would be nice," she said hitting him right back with her own sarcasm.

He just shook his head at how much she was like him and looked straight into her sky blue eyes.

"Really, Ella," he was more serious this time. "What are you doing here? I thought you would be out looking for an apprenticeship with a Potions Master."

"Oh," she said freezing up as she was at a total loss of words. What should she tell him? Should she break the news to him easily? After all she didn't want to give him a heart attack.

Severus waited for her to answer his question, but she didn't say anything. He didn't understand what was so hard with answering him, it wasn't like his question was hard to comprehend. He saw that she had a look of concentration as if she were trying to think of what she was going to say next. This made him very curious, but also slightly suspicious.

"Well, I kind of already have a job," she finally replied, but it was very brief.

"That was quick," he said while giving her a skeptical look like he didn't believe everything she was telling him or she was leaving something out.

"Well, it kind of just flew my way," she said with a little laugh, because in a since, it did fly her way. She still remembered Fawkes flying right through her window as she came home from her last test she needed to take before she was able to graduate from University. He landed right on her shoulder and waited patiently for her to speak first. When she finally asked him why he was in her house, he explained to her that he had a message for her from Dumbledore, and then began to relate to her what her grandfather asked him to tell her. After he was done, he said his farewells and flew out the window to then burst into flames, no doubt going back to the headmaster's office.

"Where is it exactly that you will be working?"

"You see, the thing about that is…"

"Where are you working, Ella," he said interrupting her in his tone he used on his students. He was now irritated that she felt like she couldn't tell him the truth. He already had an idea of what she was going to say?  
"I'm working here at Hogwarts as your new teaching assistant."

She watched as many different emotions crossed his face. The first was anger, and she was hoping to God that she wasn't the one who made him mad. But she saw as his anger slowly started to dissipate into something that Ella could recognize.

"Are you trying to tell me," he said this slowly in his deep voice, causing chills to go down Ella's spine. "That you are the assistant your grandfather hired to help me?"

"Yes," she said quietly not wanting to fuel his anger any more than it already was.

What happened next was the last thing that she was ever expecting to happen, and something she had never known was possible. Severus Snape started to laugh. And this wasn't any of Snape's ordinary laughing, but deep chested completely amused kind of laughter. There was something about it that made Ella's heart quicken, she didn't know if this was from fear or something else entirely. 'He has a really nice laugh,' she thought to herself. 'I wasn't anticipating that.'

"Do you want to tell me why you are laughing?" she asked, feeling like she missed something important. "Or are you planning to just let me figure it out on my own?"

"I'm laughing because you don't know how much of a relief it is to know it's you that will be working for me, and not some dunderhead young kid fresh out of University that I will be having to deal with the entire year."

"Yes, but aren't I a young kid fresh out of University."

"But you're not an idiot that doesn't know that both Monkshood and Wolfsbane is the exact same thing. You won't believe how many people who study potions don't even know some of the simplest of things."

"You're forgetting that it is also called Aconite and is one of the primary ingredients in the Wolfsbane Potion."

"You have a real passion in potion making, Ella. It's a very rare gift to possess, and a very dangerous one at that. You must always remember to use your skills wisely."

"Were you passionate about potions making too?" she had always wanted to ask him that question. She was never sure if he did it just for the love of it, or just because it was something he was able to do easily.

"I had always done well in potions, and was very passionate about the research I undertook in my Hogwarts years. But…"

"But," she finished for him, already knowing what he was going to say, and feeling very apprehensive about speaking of his love for one certain subject in particular. "You enjoyed Defense Against the Dark Arts more."

"Yes, I do admit to having a fascination with the study of the Dark Arts. But do not worry because unlike what others say, it was never for the reason of wanting to harm anyone. But that was before I became a death eater. As a follower of the Dark Lord, there were things he required you to do, and those things usually had some kind of dark magic involved in it."

Ella did not like what she was going to ask next, but felt like she deserved to know the truth. Ever since she met Severus, she had been curious about this one thing.

"Have you ever killed anyone?"

He went quiet and his eyes got a far off look in them, almost as if he was replaying some bad memory over and over in his mind.

"I did once," he finally told her, with his black eyes looking straight into her blue once. "All I'm going to say is that it was the worst thing I had ever done as a death eater, and I wish that I had never done it."

Ella instantly dropped the subject, promising herself to never bring the question back up with him again. He had been through enough. She saw the hurt and torture in his eyes, and she did not want to have to see that anymore. She hated that such a beloved friend of her felt such sorrow because of past actions that they had done.

Without any reservation, without any thought, and without any kind of hate or disgust for the man in front of her, she threw her arms around him like she use to do when she was younger. She could not recall the last time she had hugged Severus. It could have been that time in fifth year she found her boyfriend Aaron cheating on her, or it could have been the day of her graduation from Hogwarts. Whenever it was, it had been way to long.

There was nothing she loved more than hugging him. He was very warm and smelt of the many spices he worked with. When she was even around him, she felt all the stress in her body release and fill with warmth and happiness.

"That was your past Severus," she told him quietly as she still held onto him and he did the same to her. "There is no reason for you to beat yourself up anymore. You have already redeemed yourself by saving my life. It's about time to forgive yourself for your past sins."

"It's different when you take a life Ella. That's a very hard thing to forgive. You lose a part of yourself when you do something as horrible as kill someone."

Ella let go of him, put her hand on his chest, and closed her eyes. He felt a sudden warm glow flow through his body, and electric shocks on his chest where she was touching him. He could not fathom what it was she was doing.

She finally let go and opened her eyes and looked at him with a beautiful and sincere smile.

"You have nothing to agonize about. You are perfectly wonderful inside, even though you don't show it on the outside."

"What did you just do?"

"It's something knew I learned when I visited my grandfather in Romania," she explained. "He told me about and even showed me how we could detect the good and evil in all creatures. Of course we all have some good and bad in us, but what matters is what side we decide to choose. You Severus, without a doubt, are a good person."

"Thank you, Ella," he said softly, as he lightly brought his hand up to her face and rubbed her soft cheek with affection.

She felt warmth on her face where he was touching her. She wasn't sure but, there was something different between them, she just could find out what it was at the present moment.

"Have you settled in yet?" he asked.

That question brought her back down to the reality. She had completely forgotten that her grandfather was making them basically room together. If things were getting strange between them now, she could just imagine what they would be like when they were sharing a place.

"You look anxious," he observed. "What's going on?"

"You're going to hate my grandfather when I tell you this," she said exasperated with having to be the one to inform him what was going on. What was her grandfather playing at anyways?

"What did that older codger do now?"

"He's making us live in your courters, and don't even ask me why because he didn't tell me."

He all of a sudden got a dangerous look in his eyes and rushed to the door that led to his courters. He was in such a rush that he was already in his living room by the time that Ella could even keep up with him. Severus walked over to a door that Ella couldn't remember ever being there when she ever visited him.

"I knew that old man was up to something last night when he came over to tell me he needed me to run an errand for him. Errand my arse! He just wanted me out so he could put an extra room in my place without me noticing."

He opened the door to reveal a beautiful light blue room that was fully furnished and ready to live in. Ella stood there in shock, instantly falling in love with the room. The decor reminded her of the sky on a clear summer day and, the bed was big and it looked very comfortable. She walked into the room with big round eyes with stars in them. 'Oh no,' was all Severus thought. 'That sneaky conniving bastard. She's never going to leave after seeing this room.' He saw as Ella walked about the room looking like she was in heaven and never wanted to leave.

She went over to the bed and decided to lie down on top of it. It was even more heavenly than she first thought. It was like sleeping on a cloud. Soft, plush and relaxing, she never wanted to get off. But curiosity got the better of her, and she got up to get a better look of the room. It had a desk, a dresser, bedside tables, and it even had a vanity. Her grandfather had that of everything. There was just one thing that was missing, something that was all too important to her. It didn't have a bathroom. Ella looked over to Severus with horror in her eyes.

"Please tell me you have two bathroom's Severus," she pleaded with him.

"Unfortunately, I only have one," he said, understanding where she was getting at with this, since he too hadn't spotted a bathroom. He was going to officially murder the headmaster, and he would not feel a single ounce of remorse for it.

"I'm going to kill him," Ella growled seeing red. Severus wasn't sure, but he thought he saw steaming coming out of her ears. He had never seen Ella so furious as long as he's known her. He kind of felt bad for Dumbledore, but not nearly enough to not kill the old man himself.

"Just in time too," he said as he looked down at his watch. "It's just about time for dinner."

That's all Severus had to say to get Ella up and off the bed rushing out the door. Snape followed along, but in a calmer demeanor, but that didn't mean he wasn't seething inside.

By the time they both made it to the Great Hall, their feelings towards Albus had not changed, if anything they had gotten even more steamed up then before.

Ella unlike Severus, was showing her true anger outwardly, and stormed straight into the Great Hall without any diffidence. He decided to walk in a little bit more modest than Ella, after all, he was a grown man.

"Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore," Ella screamed as she pointed at her grandfather in almost a wild manner. "You are a dead man."

All of the Professors who were eating their meals were in complete shock at what they were hearing, and it seemed like the only one who wasn't unsettled in any kind of way was the Headmaster. This angered Ella and she stormed up to where all the Professors were eating, and went straight to Dumbledore. She stared him down with a stink eye, while he just looked at her calmly.

"Is everything alright dear?" he asked.

Ella screamed loudly at the top of her lungs, making his eyes go wide at her outburst. His granddaughter was always lady like, and for the first time he was seeing a side of her he never has seen before.

"Ella, calm down," Severus said from behind her, making her look back at him. The look he gave her made her breath in and out to settle her vexation with the awkward situation her grandfather put Severus and her in.

"No, everything isn't alright," she said in a more relaxed tone once she felt Severus put his hand on her shoulder. "How could you do this to us? We can't share a bathroom, because that is just completely strange."

Dumbledore blinked.

"Is that what all this yelling is about," he replied almost in a reprimanding kind of tone. "I don't see why you should act like some kind of crazed animal over something so ridiculous as that. I have my reason to why I didn't give you your own bathroom. I figured that the one Severus has is perfectly fine for the both of you to use and there was no point in wasting my time on it. Now that I have explained, please sit down and eat."

Ella knew that her grandfather was basically telling her that their conversation was over. She just huffed and sat down next to her grandfather while Severus to the seat next to hers, just in case he had to calm her down again. He was not expecting her to blow up like that, and if he knew, he would have suggested they have dinner in his courters tonight.

"You better sleep with your eyes open tonight old man," she whispered quietly so only he could hear her. "You never know, I might come into your room and shave off that precious beard of yours."

"You know as well as everyone else that my courters can only be opened by me and no one can get in without my permission."

Darn it, she had forgotten that. Oh well, she would think of some way to get back at him, and she would recruit Severus to help her. 'Watch out grandpa,' she thought with a smile on her face. 'You are going down.'

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**That was so much fun making Ella mad at her grandfather, I am still laughing. Oh, and another thing. Bill Weasley didn't actually go to school in 1981 but 1982, but I figured it wasn't that big of a change, only one year. Next chapter, Ella finally gets to meet with a young Harry. Yay, I'm so excited. I've been dying to write some interaction between them two. Now that he is old, I can. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and until next time. :D**


	13. Chapter 12: Severus Smells Pretty!

Chapter 12: Severus Smells Pretty!

**Disclaimer: **There is only one true owner of Harry Potter, and that is J. K. Rowling.

**AN: I wanted to inform all readers that Severus and Ella will not be getting together until a little while from now, I'm not saying when because it's a surprise. But don't worry, there is going to be a lot of juicy Severus and Ella scenes up until they finally do become involved with each other. I just assumed it would be really weird for them to all of a sudden get together out of nowhere. No, they need to spend more time with each other. After all, they hadn't seen each other in a very long time. If you want to know anything, do not hesitate to ask me. Also, this is more like a chapter filler kind of thing, you know, to put a little bit of humor into my story. I will be writing the chapter she goes to see Harry next. I just wasn't sure how long that might be, so I wanted to post something up. Please enjoy this lovely new chapter that I present to you! :D **

Changing and Chances

It had been about two weeks since Ella's outburst in the Great Hall. Many of the Professors had already left for their summer vacations a week ago, just finishing up with their lesson plans for the next school year, filing them and handing them over to the Headmaster. The only Professor's left who planned to stay for the rest of the summer were Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, and Professor Trelawney who had never left Hogwarts since the day she began working for the school. Severus and Ella were only planning to stay for one more week, and then they would be heading to a remote forest were Severus had owned a cabin. He went their every summer to collect special ingredients he would use to stock his private stores, and sometimes for the experiments he would conduct on his own time.

Ella was very excited to finally be able to go back with Severus to the one place she remembered loving as a young kid. It resided in a location he would never tell her, even though how many times she would ask. She could not blame him though, because if she had a place she could go to without anyone disturbing her, she too wouldn't tell a soul. She figured that she was just lucky that he was willing to take her along with him, and after her fourth year, she stopped badgering him about it. The last time she had actually gone with him was the summer before her sixth year, because the following summer, she had decided to spend some time with her grandfather in Romania.

She had many good memories of helping Severus harvest the gardens that they had planted the summer after her first year at Hogwarts. If she remembered correctly, it wasn't until the summer after when Severus started noticing that the plants in the garden were growing in a much more accelerated rate whenever Ella was helping out in the garden. He watched in fascination as every day, the plants would grow at least an inch in size.

Never before had he ever seen anything like it, and for the first time, he was truly in awe of what the young witch really could do. Not only did she make the plants grow faster, but thanks to her, the ingredients for the potions were much more effective than ever before. It was then that Severus began to fully comprehend why both her father and grandfather tried to keep who she really was hidden from the world. He could only imagine how many people would want to exploit the young girl's abilities for their own needs. Thinking about this actually scared and made him slightly anxious, he had gotten to know Ella, began to care for her more than he ever had before. He could never allow someone to take advantage of her, and from that day on, he promised himself he never would.

It wasn't until Severus talked to her about the rapid growth of the plants, that Ella herself started noticing their strange growth as well. She knew that this was one of her gifts handed down to her from her elfin heritage, but it was all made much more realistic as she actually watched the effect she was making on the world around her. This frightened her, but also captivated her in some way. This was who she was. She gave life to things instead of destroying them, and that was something beyond she herself could ever fathom.

She was thinking about all of this as she was lying down on one of the couches in the living room of Severus's courters, waited for him to finally get out of the bathroom so she too could go and get cleaned up. They had been out in the Forbidden Forest all day looking for an exotic plant that Severus had ran out of in his private stores. He needed it for a specific potion that St. Mungo's had asked him to brew for them, of course persuading him with money. The only reason why they asked him was because the potion was very complex, and he was one of the very few Potions Masters that could actually brew the potion that actually lived in England. He had brought her along to ask some of the creatures in the forest if they knew where the plant could be located. But it took a lot longer than they both were actually hoping because a few of the creatures didn't even know what a Dittany plant was or they simply just didn't know where to find it in the forest. It wasn't until they met a nice hippogriff the they crossed paths that they were finally able to find what they were looking for.

Ella had no idea that walking around in the Forbidden Forest could make someone so tired. Her feet were absolutely killing her. Severus had better make it up to her, and she already knew what she was going to ask for. For a very long time she had wanted to learn how to brew Essence of Dittany, and now she had a chance. Since Severus was already brewing the potion for St. Mungo's, he had no other choice but to let her watch in. Maybe if she was lucky and he was in a good mood, he would let her help brew it.

As she waited very patiently, Ella found herself slowly falling asleep, the exhaustion from the day of walking finally kicking in. Her eyes began to close, and just as she was making her way into dreamland, she was suddenly woken up by a loud bang coming from Severus's room. She was now wide awake up on her feet trying to comprehend what was going on, fearing that something might have happened to Severus. But that fear was put to rest as she heard him uttering a few colorful words before he walked out of his room shooting daggers her way. The icy stare he was giving her had Ella's impending doom written all over it. 'So much for brewing the Essence of Dittany,' she thought in disappointment.

"What the in the bloody hell did you make me put in my fucking hair?" he asked angrily in his usual stimulating language. "I smell like a fucking rose petal."

She knew it was a bad idea to put the potion in his shampoo, but she thought it might actually in some ways be amusing. That and he really needed to learn to take better care of his hair. The usual shampoo was not going to fix the problem, people should trust her on this, she herself had tried. But constant brewing tended to make your hair very unhealthy, so to get back her normally flawless hair, Ella decided to fix it with a very lovely potion she liked to call Grease No More.

"Oh, that," she waved off casually, like it was no big deal. "The smell will go away in about thirty minutes or less. It depends on how much shampoo you actually used."

"That's nice to know," he said in a low and menacing voice. "But what I would like to know is, what the hell did you put in my shampoo."

"Calm down, will you," she said, dramatically rolling her eyes at him. "It's just a potion that I had made as a research project my first year at University. It's supposed to keep your hair shiny and full of luster, especially for people like you and me who are brewing potions twenty-four seven. The only problem I seem to have with the potion is no matter how hard I try, I just can't make the floral scent go away."

"So, what you are trying to tell me is, you put an unknown potion in my shampoo bottle without telling."

"Oh, come on Severus, you make it sound like I was trying to poison you or something. If I thought that it was dangerous, do you think that I would use it on myself or even think about putting it in your shampoo. The stuff is perfectly fine, and I plan to sell it to the public as soon as I can. Why keep the world from having nice hair."

"That's beside the point, Ella. What you did was wrong and a total disgrace to all potion makers out there. You never unwillingly give someone any kind of potion without their consent."

"Yeah, because you have never done anything like that before," she said sarcastically.

"You're not me, and I would never encourage you to do the things that I have done. I can tell you that I regret what I did now."

"You are taking this way out of hand Severus. The only reason why I put it in there in the first place is because you haven't taken care of yourself. And don't you dare fool me by saying if I asked you to use it, that you would, because we both know that would be a lie. Your health, and that includes things like keeping your hair the best it could be, is very important, and if you don't start taking care of yourself, than I will do it for you. Besides, don't you want beautiful silky hair like mine? That would just give the students one less name to call you. Cause if you ask me, greasy git isn't very becoming of you. I would say you're more of a snarky bastard."

"I'm getting rid of it," he said, refuring to his shampoo bottle, completely ignoring her snarky bastard comment. It's not like he hasn't heard it before.

"Then I will just put more in the new bottle that you plan on buying. I have plenty of the grease no more potion, and it's not like it's very hard to make if I ever run out."

"I will hide it than."

"Like you can hide anything from me. Your forgetting about my elfin intuition, which will help me find it every time."

"I don't want to smell like a bloody fucking rose bush!"

"Don't you worry, because I'm planning to be changing that very soon? Now that I'm not in school anymore, and I'm working with you, which means that I don't need a teachers or the Ministry's permission to conduct research, I can now finally improve the potion. But, until then, you are just going to have to deal with smelling like a beautiful little flower."

She laughed at how a lot more entertaining the situation was than she thought it would ever be as she walked to her room. She came out a few minutes later with some muggle clothing in her hand, which sparked Severus as strange because he rarely ever saw her in muggle clothes.

"Now if you will excuse me, I need to go get ready because I will be leaving in a few hours."

"Where are you going?" he asked, seeming to completely forget about the shampoo incident, or at least that's what Ella hoped.

Ella stopped mid-step on her way to the bathroom door that they unfortunately still had to share. She was still mad at her grandfather for that, and was still planning her revenge.

"I already told you, remember. Grandpa has been worried lately because Harry hasn't replied back to any of his Hogwarts acceptance letters. I mean, they have been sending boat loads of those things to the Dursley house, but still no reply, which I am really not surprised about. So he has recruited Hagrid to go and check up on him to make sure he was alright, and to make sure he gets his letter. He was kind of apprehensive of letting the big guy go on his own, so he asked me to go along with him to make sure he doesn't get himself into too much trouble."

"And you accepted?" he questioned her as he raised his brow, almost like he couldn't understand why she would ever want to be within a yard of the Hagrids presence.

"Of course I did," she replied, like he was stupid for even asking. "I haven't seen Harry in ten years. Now will you please stop asking me unnecessary questions so I can finally get in the bath, it's not my fault that someone around here takes way too long?"

"Sure, go," he said, waving her out of the room with one of his hands. "But don't you even think for a second that I haven't forgotten about you putting that damn potion of yours inside my shampoo."

"Wasn't expecting you too," she said as she closed the bathroom door and locked it.

Severus just went to go sit down on his favorite armchair in an exasperated manner, picking up the potions book he had been reading the night before.

"I'm starting to wonder if having some dunderhead assistant would have been better," he said to himself as he read. "At least they would be too frightened of me to defy my authority."

**I might be able to get the next chapter up by tomorrow, one can only hope. I will try my best to make sure I update really soon.**


	14. Chapter 13: Seeing Harry Again

Chapter 13: Seeing Harry Again

**Disclaimer: **There is only one true owner of Harry Potter, and that is J. K. Rowling.

**AN: From now on it is going straight from the books, and there is going to be way more interaction with the other characters. I know it's taken me a long time to finally get to the books story line, but I hope no one is too mad about that. Please enjoy this chapter. :D**

* * *

Changing and Chances

Ella made her way out of the bathroom once she was ready and fully clothed in her muggle get up. As she walked to the living room where she last left Severus, she saw that he was now sitting in his armchair next to the fire reading the new book that she had just purchased for him. She knew that he had many books, but this one she just had to get for him. When you spot a really old and rare potions book from the seventeenth century, you just don't pass it up. Ella would never forget the look on his face when she took the book from out of her trunk and presented it to him as his gift from her. She had never seen him so excited about something than he was about that book, which pleased her greatly.

He was so fixated on his reading, that he didn't notice that Ella was making her way over to where he sat. He only recognized her when he felt her hands go through his hair. He tensed up immediately and grabbed her hand away from him. He looked up at her with a questioning look. She just smiled at him smugly.

"Told you it would make your hair soft and shiny," she said in a mocking tone. "And you don't even smell like roses anymore."

He let go of her hand and shook his head at how childish she could be.

"Are you leaving?" he said in a I hope your gone soon way. "Because if you are, it would be a smart idea to grab your coat, it gets pretty cold near the sea."

He pointed to the coat that was lying down on the top part of one of the sofa's. Ella just thanked him as she took the heavy coat into her hands.

"Wait a minute," she stopped herself. "How did you know that we were going to the seashore?"

"Who else."

"Let me guess, my great grandfather who can never keep a secret?"

He just nodded his head in confirmation.

"Well, I hope he also told you I wouldn't be back till late afternoon tomorrow."

"No, he didn't tell me that," he said getting up off the couch to go and stand next to her. "I didn't know that it took that long to give someone a letter?"

"It usually doesn't, but unfortunately that's not the only thing that grandfather want's Hagrid and I to do. First, we need to go down to Diagon Alley to get Harry the things he will be needing for school. I'm sure the Dursley's with their wizard hating ways wouldn't know where Diagon Alley is or even step foot in a place like that. Also, grandpa wanted us to stop by Gringotts. He has something he needs to take out of one of his volts."

"The Philosopher's Stone," said Severus too quickly, making Ella look up at him in surprise.

"I didn't know you knew about that. Did grandpa tell you that, as well?"

"Yes, he told all of the Professors. He wants to make sure that it is safe and secure here at Hogwarts, so he is having some of the Professors help put up some defenses on the third floor of the castle where he is keeping it."

"That is smart, but also extremely careless. I know that my grandfather is a wise man, but sometimes I wonder if he can see the entire picture. The Philosopher's Stone represents a power beyond anyone can clearly imagine. How do you really know who is on your side and wants to help keep that power safe, or if someone wants to take it for their own needs."

Ella looked extremely worried about this, and Severus wasn't sure why, but he felt like she might not be telling him something.

"Is anything wrong?" he asked her, putting a hand on her shoulder trying to comfort her.

"No, everything is fine," she said, looking away from him trying to hid that she wasn't being truthful. "It's nothing really, just a bad feeling."

This didn't settle right with Severus, he knew that it was a lot more than just a feeling, but he didn't want to push her to tell him until she felt comfortable doing so. So instead, he wrapped his arms around her and embraced her. This was something that very rarely happened, and showed Ella how truly concerned he was about her. Even though she didn't want to make him worry, she just wasn't ready to tell anyone about the strange feelings she has been experiencing ever since she came back to Hogwarts.

"You stop worrying about the stone and focus on what you need attend to at the moment," he said as he let go of her.

She didn't catch on to what he was trying to tell her.

"Harry," was all he had to say for her to realize that she was late meeting Hagrid down at the Hogwarts gates.

"Oh no," she said as she ran over to the door. "I can't believe I'm late."

"I'm sure that oaf won't mind," he said, as Ella looked back to give him a dirty look for calling Hagrid an oaf. "And please remember to be careful."

"When am I not careful," she teased him, smiling his way before walking out the door.

Severus just laughed and shook his head, sitting back down to read again.

* * *

After making her way from the dungeons and to the large Hogwarts door, an out of breath Ella rushed her way through the Hogwarts grounds all the way to the gates where she told Hagrid she would meet him. Ella felt absolutely terrible for making him wait for her, he was always such a nice friend to her and she didn't like taking advantage of his nice demeanor. She knew that Hagrid wouldn't be mad at her, just as much as Severus knew. If you have ever met the large giant like man, you would instantly know that he couldn't even hurt a fly.

"I'm sorry I was late Hagrid," Ella slowly breathed in and out, trying to get her breath back. "Do you have the portkey?"

"Sure do, it' right here," he said handing her a box of her grandfather's favorite candy, sherbet lemon. She still didn't know how her grandfather pulled off getting them a portkey. Don't get her wrong, she was very happy about it. Having a portkey meant that she didn't have to use her feet anymore today, which were still hurting her from her trek through the forbidden forest. It was just, she couldn't understand how he obtained the information he needed to get the portkey to know where it needed to take them. Not only that, but how was he able to make an unauthorized portkey. What Ella learned over the years was, sometimes it was just best not to question her grandfather, because most of the times instead of ending up with answers, all you got was a headache.

"Good, it is almost about time to go," she said looking down at her watch. "Thank God I left when I did, or you would be leaving without me. Again, I am so sorry for leaving you out here like that, Hagrid."

"Don' worry 'bout it," he said, which was exactly what Ella expected to hear. "I didn' mind."

"Sometimes, Hagrid," she told him. "I think you can be a little too nice for your own good."

"Naw, I'm not nice all the time," he said flustered.

"If you say so," Ella said, having to strain her neck to smile at him.

They needed to leave at about four minutes to midnight, or at least that is what her grandfather told her. That meant they had one minute left to get ready to leave.

"It's time, so make sure you get a good grip onto the box," she explained to Hagrid, holding it up so the both can grab onto it.

Each took a side of the Headmasters candy box as Ella counted down to when they would be leaving. Three, Two, One and they were gone from Hogwarts gates, making their way to their destination. Ella thought that Apperating was much better transportation than a portkey. She just could never get used to the feeling of being pull by a hook, it made her queasy. Her stomach was doing flip flops the entire way until they finally landed on ground, or should she say slippery and rigged rock.

As she saw the sharp rocks, she was so glad that she had landed on her feet. She was wondering if her grandfather was trying to kill them, because a warning would have been nice. She looked over to Hagrid to make sure he was okay, because he had been pretty quiet since they landed. When she saw him, and how green his face was, she realized he must get motion sickness. Making her way over to him, she rummaged through her coat pockets looking to see if she had any potion that could help him. Finding what she needed, she took it out and uncorked it and handed it over to Hagrid to drink. As the liquid went down his throat, she saw that he was starting to get some of his color back.

"Are you feeling better now, Hagrid?" she asked him in a sweet voice as she rubbed his back in a motherly way.

"Yes, thanks to yeh," he said handing her back the vile that she had given him. "Who would have thought 'bout keeping potions with them."

"There is no need to thank me," she said. "The gratitude belongs to Severus because he was the one that always made keep certain potions with me at all times. You could say that he is slightly paranoid that something will happen to me."

"Well, tell him I said thank yeh," he said.

"Will do," she replied.

Ella looked away from Hagrid and out to the now raging sea. She could see land not too far off from where they were.

"Where exactly do you think we are?" she asked Hagrid. "And where are we supposed to actually go?"

"Behind yeh," he said as he pointed to the ugliest shack that Ella was sure she had ever laid eyes upon. It was broken down and just about ready to fall off the rock and into the roaring ocean. Whey would Harry be here, and most importantly, were the Dursley's really that crazy to spend their summer holidays in such a remote and unsafe place.

"Well, I guess we best go and knock on the door," she said, leading the way up to the front and only entrance to the dreadful little shack.

Ella was as careful as she could be, watching her step every single second not wanting to slip and fall. She was thankful she was with Hagrid, because she would have fallen right into the cold water if he hadn't saw her slipping and steadied her as quickly as he could. She was really happy when they finally made it up to the door. Even if the place had a sure chance of blowing over with one more strong gust of wind, it had a flat surface and that's all Ella really cared about.

"Are you going to knock, or do you want me too?" she asked looking to her large friend standing next to her on the doorstep.

He made up his mind for her by banging really hard on the door. Ella didn't tell him that knocking did require you to actually knock down the door. She knew that Hagrid wouldn't get what she meant. He just didn't know his own strength.

When no one answered Hagrid's loud knock, he pounded on the door a couple of more times, hoping that would do the trick. Ella was sure that if no one heard the first time, they would surely hear this time. And she was right, because on the other side of the door they heard the gruff voice of a man.

"Who's there," the man shouted. "I warn you—I'm armed!"

"They're crazy," Ella told Hagrid with wide eyes. "He has a gun. Who knows what is happening to Harry."

With that said, with a hard fist raised in the air, Hagrid broke the door right off the hinges. The minute Ella could pass through the door, she rushed inside to make sure that Harry was alright and not being hurt in anyway. She would never forgive herself if he was. 'Crazy muggles,' was all she could think a she went inside.

Harry watched, as a young beautiful woman walked through the door that was just slammed down. She looked like the equivalent of what he heard an angel looked like. And as he saw her searching the room, she stopped right at him and gave him the warmest smile that anyone has ever given him in his life. He didn't get smiles, only beatings, so you could comprehend what he felt like when this lovely lady fixed her eyes on him instead of one off the others in the room.

He saw as she came and walked his way. He still couldn't believe that she was there, so he blinked his eyes a couple of times to see if she would disappear. But no, she was still there, and coming straight towards him.

"Hello, Harry," she said to him, as she stood right in front of the young boy. "Happy Birthday. You are eleven today, aren't you."

All he could do was nodded his head. How did she know his name and that it was his birthday?

"My name is Ella, and that big guy over there is Hagrid," she said, pointing to the large man behind her who was picking up the door and fitting it right back into place. It wasn't until she mentioned him that the others in the room notice he was there. They were all too transfixed on to Ella at the time.

"Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey…" he said to the Dursley's.

They just looked at him like he was crazy, and Ella just shook her head at Hagrids bluntness. She was sure if they were going to make them a cup of tea, none of them would be here in the first place. It didn't matter because she was sure there was nothing there to make tea with anyway.

Not getting a reply back, Hagrid just walked over to the sofa where a large kid sat shaking with fear. He was most likely Dudley, the Dursley's son. Ella knew this by the same fat stature he had that resembled Vernon Dursley.

"Budge up, yeh great lump," he said to the fat kid, who instantly ran away from the couch and over to where his parents were standing. "An' here's, Harry. I see that yeh've met Ella here."

They both looked at the boy and saw how speechless he was. He didn't know what to make of the situation. Both of these people knew who he was, but he had never met them. He squirmed around as they looked at him expectantly.

"Yeh think he might be in shock?" Hagrid questioned, Ella.

"No, he just doesn't understand what is going on, and I'm sure us talking about him in front of him isn't doing any good."

She looked down upon Harry, making sure her fear wasn't true, that he might be being abused by the Dursley's. When she didn't see anything, she was satisfied. What didn't satisfy her though, is how skinny he was and how his clothes didn't even fit him. The poor thing looked like he could be homeless.

"You don't need to be frightened, Harry. You see, both Hagrid and I knew you as a small child. I myself stayed with your parents for a while until the night of their tragic accident."

Vernon Dursley made a funny noise when he heard her say this.

"I demand that you leave at once!" he said. "You are breaking and entering!"

"Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune," said Hagrid, as he grabbed the gun out of Harry's uncle's hand and twisted it into a knot. The whole Dursley family squeaked like they were mice being stepped on.

"Now where was I," Ella said, trying to not think about how much Vernon Dursley did look like a prune with his plumpness and purple colored skin. "Oh, yes. As you can see, we are very good friends of your parents and don't mean you or the Dursley's any harm."

"That's right, Harry," Hagrid said as he started taking things out of his large black cloak. "Yeh wouldn't mind making me a fire while I give Harry his present, would yeh Ella."

"Not at all," she said as she walked over to the fireplace. It was getting really cold, even with her coat on. They needed to get some he going in there before everyone froze to death. So bending down and covering the fireplace so no one could see what she was doing, she started a nice warm fire.

"Here yeh are, Harry," Hagrid said handing a box over to him. "I mighta sat on it at some point, but I'm sure it still taste's good."

As Hagrid went back to taking more things out of his pockets that looked like things to cook with, and some food to go with it; Harry opened the box and what he found inside was a birthday cake with green frosting that said _Happy Birthday Harry_.

Ella came and sat down on the couch next to Hagrid, and watched as Harry looked at the birthday cake that Hagrid had given him. He looked to be in awe of it, like he had never had a birthday cake before. This made Ella extremely upset, not liking how he was being treated with the Dursley's.

"Harry, come over here," she said patting the seat right next to her. "I want to give you something."

Harry wasn't sure if he should go, but the woman named Ella didn't give him any reason to not trust her. So he went and sat down next to her on the couch. As he sat down, he saw her produce a small box from the inside of the pocket of her jeans, and handed it to him. He opened it and saw that it was a locket in the shape of a lion.

"Well, go ahead," she nudged him. "Open the locket."

He did as she said and picked it up and opened it. There inside was a picture of a man and a woman together, and even though he had never met them before, he knew that they were his parents.

"Thank you," he said.

"Now you will be able to see your parents whenever you want," she smiled at him, hoping that it would give him some kind of comfort. "Here let me put it on you. I picked out the lion one for a reason that you will find out very soon, but not only that, I also figured you wouldn't want something girly like a heart."

As she put it on him, they watched as Hagrid made some tea and put some sausages on the fire. Very soon, the whole room started to smell of the delicious food that was cooking. The smell was so good, that it made Ella's mouth water, even though she was a vegetarian. It really wasn't a choice for her to not eat meat. She found out once you hear the cry's and screams of an animal as they knew they were going to be killed, meat didn't have the same pleasure as it used to.

As the food was cooking, you could see the lust in Dudley's eyes. It was like he was going to go and grabbed the food right off of the fire and he didn't care if he burnt himself or not. In Ella's mind, that kid had some major problems with eating, and really needed to get help.

"Don't eat anything that he gives to you, Dudley," Mr. Dursley said to his son sharply.

Both Hagrid and Ella laughed at what he said, and Ella replied back by saying, "Trust me, I'm sure that kid of yours has ate enough that his body could feed on itself for months before he would die."

Mrs. Dursley looked offended by Ella's words, giving her a dirty look. This made Hagrid laugh more, and even Harry silently laughed in his head, but was too afraid to do so out loud, because once these nice people were gone, he would probably get a good beating from the Dursley's. And as Hagrid stopped laughing, he passed some sausages down for Harry to eat. He was going to give some to Ella as well, but she declined saying that she wasn't hungry. He just shrugged, sat down, and ate them himself.

"Before you guys get way out of hand with stuffing your faces," Ella said as she sipped some tea and both Hagrid and Harry were finished with more than half of the food. "Shouldn't we be doing what we came here to do Hagrid?"

"Oh, yeah," he said, as he produced a letter out of his cloak. "This is for yeh, Harry."

Harry took the yellowish letter from Hagrids hands, almost in fascination. He couldn't believe that he was going to finally be able to read his letter. He looked at the address that was written in green ink, it saying, to Mr. H. Potter, The Floor, Hut-on-the-Rock, The Sea. He opened the envelope and took the letter out that was inside, and read it. It said:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL

_of_ WITCHCRAFT _and_ WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(_Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,_

_Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards_)

Dear Mr. Potter

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted

at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please

find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no

later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall,

_Deputy Headmistress_

__"I don't understand, is this a joke?" he asked the both of them, as he was finished reading it. What was Hogwarts, and do these people really believe that there are wizards? This all sounded crazy to him.

Both Hagrid and Ella were shocked to hear him say that. Didn't the boy know what he was?

"What do you mean?" Ella was the one to ask. "Don't you know that you are a wizard, and that your father and mother were wizards, too? Did not the Dursley's tell you this? Are you sure Professor Dumbledore left a letter to the Dursley's, Hagrid?"

"Yes, I'm sure. I saw him do it myself," he said pondering the situation.

"If they got the letter, than that means…"

"That only means that they never told him!" Hargrid yelled, as he got up off the couch, but was stopped from going any further by Ella standing in front of him. "Dursley! What is the meaning of this?"

"He's not going," was all the Vernon said, with a stutter in his, clearly afraid of the large man. "He is not going to that no good school."

"I'd like ter see a great muggle like you stop him!"

"A what?" Harry asked, not knowing what a muggle was.

"Not right now, dear," Ella said, just shaking her head in warning. She didn't have time to answer question, she was too busy making sure Hagrid didn't kill anyone.

"You guys never told the boy that he was a wizard, even though yeh were supposed to! Dumbledore specifically put it in his letter that he must know!"

"I don't care what that Dumbledore man said," Mr. Dursley said, getting a bit more confident. "He's probably nothing but a no good crazy old man."

"Don't you ever insult Albus Dumbledore while I'm around!" he yelled, so loud that he shook the entire place.

"Calm down Hagrid," Ella said, completely taken aback by her friend's behavior, she had never seen him so enraged before. Maybe her grandfather made the right call in making her come along. "We will figure this out without hurting anyone. Forget what he said about the Headmaster, it doesn't matter what he says."

"Aw," he said with his large hand waving at the Dursley's. "There not even worth it."

"Wait a minute," Harry said, Harry stopped everyone and made them all look over to him. "So I am a wizard, and both my parents were wizards too. And you guys knew it this whole time, and never told me."

"Knew!" Petunia shrieked as she stepped closer to Harry, all of a sudden not carrying that he was surrounded by wizards. "Of course we knew! How could you not be, with that dratted sister of mine being what she was? Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that—that _school—_and came home every vacation with her pockets full of frog spawn, turning teacups into rats. I was the only one who saw her for what she was—a…"

She wasn't able to finish her sentence, because all of a sudden, Ella was right in front of her with her wand out pointing straight at her head.

"Move one step closer to Harry, or say another bad thing about his mother," she said in a low and threatening voice. "I will blast your head clean off your shoulders. Now, you will all listen to me. You will go into the other room and stay there until we leave tomorrow. Do I make myself clear?

"I do not want to hear anymore yelling or screaming tonight. We are all going to behave civilly, and go are separate ways. I am tired and I want to get some sleep. So I suggest you do as I say, because you do not want to see me when I am angry."

All Petunia could do was nod her head and back away from where Ella had her wand pointed at her. She stood back next to her husband, clinging onto him in fear. Ella dropped her wand when she saw that she was going to comply with her demands.

"Where's Dudley?" she heard Petunia ask her husband quietly.

"I don't know," he replied.

Both were searching for him, and finally found him in the coner chomping on Harry's birthday cake.

"Dudley!" Vernon yelled. "I thought I told you not to eat anything of that mans."

He just went on eating, grabbing the cake out with his hands. He was dirty with chocolate all over him. Ella looked at the boy in disgust, and pointed her wand at him. A light flew out of it, and there on his rear end poking out from his clothes was a pig's tail.

"I think that is very appropriate for someone like your son," she said to the Dursley's.

Dudley cried as he felt the tail on his large fat butt, and Mr. and Mrs. Dursley were even more hysterical. They were yelling and screaming in fear as they grabbed their son, went into the other room, and closed the door not even daring to come out until they were all gone.

"Good job, Ella," Hagrid said, patting her on the back, making her practically fly across the room. "Couldn't have done it better myself."

"We don't speak of this to anyone," she said, giving them both a warning look. "Do we."

The both shook their heads.

"Alright than, let's see what we can do about this couch. It is completely filthy and I am not going to sleep on that thing."

She took out her wand again, and with a wave, the couch was transformed into two huge beds that could both hold about three people. That meant, one would hold Hagrid, while the other Harry and Ella could sleep on. It was going to be a long day in Diagon Alley, and they needed as much rest as they could get.

"I really should be writing to the Professor Dumbledore that Harry got his letter," Hagrid said, producing an owl from his cloak. 'Was there anything that he didn't care in that thing,' Ella thought.

"Yes, that would be best," she replied back, and then looked down at Harry. "We should be getting some sleep. We will explain more things later on in the morning, but for now, it's late and we need some sleep."

"You promise that you will tell me more tomorrow?" he asked.

"Yes," she laughed, and guided him to one of the beds. "Now get some sleep. You look exhausted. I don't blame you either, you learned quite a bit."

"I am a little tired," he said, yawning as his head lay upon the soft and fluffy pillows that were on the bed. Ella watched as his eyes fell closed and soon he was breathing softly. She pulled a blanket that was on the end of the bed over him, and made sure he was tucked in nicely.

"What did they do to you," she said quietly as she brushed his hair out of his face, finally seeing the lightning bolt scar that everyone talked about. "Don't worry, I will try and get you away from these horrible people."

She went to the other side of the bed, and lay down as well. She really needed some sleep, she had never been as tired as she was, especially since she barely got any sleep the night before because of nightmare's she had been having. She got a blanket for herself and snuggly wrapped it around her.

She watched as Hagrid finished the letter and sent the bird flying away. The last thing she heard was Hagrids rough voice saying goodnight, and the sound of him lying down on the other bed she transfigured. Then, everything went blank.

**Do not worry because Harry will be learning much more about everything in the next chapter. I would have put more, but I have been getting a really bad writers block all of a sudden. It happens sometimes, and I usually get through it. Also, I was actually hoping to have this up much earlier, but I'm having computer problems. My internet sucks and stops working sometimes and my computer turns off on me before I can save what I had written down. Anyways, I really hope you liked this chapter, because it was really hard for me to write. Hopefully next chapter is a lot easier.**


	15. Chapter 14: Diagon Alley, Here We Come

Chapter 14: Diagon Alley, Here We Come

**Disclaimer:** There is only one true owner of Harry Potter, and that is J.K. Rowling.

**AN: Sorry for updating so late, again I had to watch my younger cousin who I just adore. Also, I got in trouble for writing too much. My dad took away the computer and told me to get some sleep because I was waking up too late. Oh well, I guess that is only my fault. I hope you enjoy this chapter. :D**

Regular talk

_Mind talk_

Changing and Chances

Tap Tap Tap

Ella felt something poking her in the neck as she was trying to sleep. She just swatted at it with her hand, wanting to go back to sleep. Whatever it was felt really soft, and it croaked loudly as she hit it away. No surprise there, it was probably a stupid barn owl with the Daily Prophet. Ella hated the Daily Prophet and never read it, but Hagrid subscribed to the newspaper, which she thought was stupid because most of the stuff was a load of crap. She figured that the bird would leave her alone and go bug Hagrid for the money it wanted. So she slowly started falling back to sleep.

"_Mistress,"_ she heard someone or something speak to her in a low gruff voice. She didn't answer, figuring it was just her dream. But then, suddenly, something started to tap her continuous, attack the top of her head. Now that was no dream, but a beak pecking at her.

"What!" she yelled in frustration, feeling her morning migraine that she usually would get intensify tenfold from what she's used to? She sat up abruptly in the large bed and held her head, trying to will the pain to go away, and like always it never worked. Instead she tried searching through her coat pocket to see if she could find a headache potion she could take, but couldn't find any. Groaning, she looked over to the bird that was sitting on the bed on top of what was a small box while it tilted its head to the side looking at her in amusement. The bird was not a barn owl like she expected, but a raven. Its eyes were a deep black that reminded her of Severus, and his feathers were a beautiful mix between silky black, midnight blue, and a deep violet. It was also very large for its size, having a wing span of about 1.7 meters which is 0.2 meters more than a normal raven.

"Shadow," Ella said in exasperation at her familiar. Why did he always take it upon himself to annoy her to no end in the morning? "What are you doing here?"

"_Sorry, Mistress,"_ he said with a small little cackle at the end. _"But Severus asked me to come and make sure you awoke on time today, saying something about you having to get up early to go to Diagon Alley. I didn't mean to peck you so much, but you wouldn't get up, and he told me to do anything I could to make sure you were not asleep by the time I left. He also asked me to drop off this for you." _

Ella looked down at the package he was sitting on, and saw that a note was on top with writing that looked like Severus's. Shadow got off of the box and flew up to her shoulder so she could open it. She first took the note off, not really sure why he felt the need to send her something. As Ella read the short note, so did her familiar. Apparently he found it funny because he couldn't help the croaking laugh he did when he thought something was amusing, which was almost half the time. She just shook her head and rolled her eyes at the bird.

The note read:

Thought you might need this. Also, good luck in Diagon Alley. SS

Now Ella was really curious on what was inside the package, what would she really need that he thought it was necessary to fly Shadow out to bring it to her? But then again, knowing Severus, it could always be one of those morning jokes that Shadow and him would always play on her. For as long as Ella could remember, she was never a morning person. This made her extremely vulnerable and less able to hex someone if she were alert and awake. She can't even count how many times they conspired against her, drawing on her face; that one was Shadow, and making her drink a potion that made hair grow all over her body; that was Severus. So you could see why she was a little wary in opening the box. She swore to herself that she would hex the bollocks off those two one day.

Carefully opening the parcel, she took a look inside. The minute she saw what it was, she took back that thought she had about hexing Severus. Inside in a small glass phial was a potion she was oh so familiar with. It was the great and wonderful headache potion that she was trying to find in her coat, the potion that took your head pain away for twenty-four hours or less, depending on how potent it was. Severus was an angel, or maybe not, but he sure was a lifesaver. Well, her lifesaver in particular.

"_Are you going to drink it?" _Shadow asked when he saw that Ella hadn't uncorked the bottle yet, and figured she was too busy thinking again.

She looked at her familiar suspiciously, wonder why he was so enthusiastic about her drinking the potion. Instead of drinking it right away, she smelt the contents of the liquid and took a taste of it. Yes, it was definitely a headache potion, so she drank the rest not worrying that anthing could have been put into it, like something that would make warts start appearing on her face; that had happened to her before. Her migraine was gone a few minutes after taking the potion, and she sighed in relief as the pounding went away. She guessed that's what happened to you when you could talk to animals, especially those owls, they never seemed to shut up.

"_Feeling better Mistress?"_

"Yes, actually I am," she said as she got up off of the bed and yawned loudly, stretching her stiff muscles out. She walked over to one of the windows and breathed in the fresh sea air, Shadow still relax on top of her shoulder.

"It was a dream," she heard a few minutes later, looking over to Harry and seeing that he still had his eyes closed but was most likely awake. "I dreamed of a beautiful woman named Ella and a giant called Hagrid came to tell me I was going away to a school for wizards. When I open my eyes I'll be at home in my cupboard."

Harry opened his eyes and looked straight into to two very bright blue eyes. Harry scrambled up straight out of bed and ran up to Ella and hugged her.

"It wasn't a dream," he said to her, holding her tightly.

Ella held put her hand on the boy's head and laughed saying, "Of course it wasn't a dream silly. No one is that imaginative."

"Oh, s_o this is the boy who Severus hates," _Shadow said, looking at the Harry who was hugging his mistress tightly.

"_He doesn't hate him," _Ella told the raven mentally_. "He just doesn't like Harry's father, which is the only reason why he dislikes the boy. But you watch and see because I will be changing that very soon." _

_Tap Tap Tap_

Ella looked out the window and saw an owl tapping loudly on the window trying to get in. It was holding a rolled up piece of paper that was clearly the Daily Prophet. She heard the bird talk in the usual barn owl speech, which meant it fast and very loud. _"Come on, come on, open the window," _she heard him keep repeating over and over.

She growled as Harry asked, "Is that an owl outside the window?"

Ella just let go of Harry and walked over to the window and opened it for the bird. Shadow squawked at it in disgust as it passed Ella and him. It flew all the way over to where Hagrid was sleeping, and sat right on top of the sleeping giant's stomach. _"Wake up, wake up," _the bird was saying hopping up and down, but it was no use because Hagrid would not be able to hear what it was saying or feel it jumping on his belly.

Ella walked over to the thing in annoyance and Shadow seeing what she was doing, flew off of her shoulder not wanting to get anywhere near the other bird. She took the Daily Prophet from the barn owl and went through her pockets and found five nuts and put them it it's the pouch that it carried on it leg. _"Thank you, thank you, thank you so much."_

"Yeah yeah, now get out of here," she said to the owl, and watched as it flew right through the window that it came in from.

Ella looked down at the still sleeping Hagrid and sighed not wanting to wake him up, but knowing that she was going to have to wake him eventually. So as nicely as she could, she started to shake the large man hoping that it would do the trick and get him up.

"Huh, what's going on," he said gruffly, his eyes half-open and half closed.

"You need to get up Hagrid," Ella said, as she opened her father's old pocket watch. "It's almost nine and we need to get going soon. Don't want to have to spend the entire day in Diagon Alley, do we."

"Ah, yes," Hagrid said struggling to lie up because he was still half asleep. Ella helped him up so he could sit on the side of the bed. The poor guy looked like he had slept in Azkaban instead of a comfortable bed. "I'm gettin' up."

"You take your time, friend," she said, patting him on the shouldering, knowing how hard it could be for some to adjust from being asleep to being awaking. "I need to do a few things before we go anyways."

"Thank yeh," he said, rubbing his eyes hard with the palms of his hand, trying to get them to stay open.

Ella went over to a table in the room that looked sturdy. She transfigured herself a quail and an ink bottle from some of the contents on the table that looked like they hadn't been touched in ages. She got the small piece of parchment that Severus used to write her a note, and set it down on the table and started to write on it with her elegant signature.

Thank you for the Potion Severus, that was very thoughtful of you. EM

'There, that should about do it,' she thought as she read it one more time and rolled it up so she could tie it to Shadow's leg.

She was about to call the bird to her, when she saw that he was being pet by none other than Harry. He had his eyes closed as the boy's soft little hand glided over his head. He looked like he was really enjoying himself, and she couldn't help but think how adorable it was as she watched the two get along. Oh, Severus was going to love this. The bird that he got for her actually liked the son of the one person on the entire planet that he could never stand. She could already see the look on his face.

"You like him?" she asked Harry as she walked over interrupting the cute moment between Harry and her familiar.

"Yeah," he replied back, still petting the bird. "It's the most wonderful creature I have ever seen. I've never seen a bird like him. What is he?

"_I like this kid," _Shadow said to Ella as his ego slowly started to go through the roof.

"He's a raven. He was a gift from a good friend of mine. Ravens have always been highly intelligent birds, and he is very useful to me when he's not being annoying."

"_Hey!"_

"Who was the friend that gave him to you?" Harry asked, like every curious young kid usually does. But unlike most grown up's, Ella didn't mind intrusive questions from younger children, she actually found it endearing.

"He's one of the Professor's at Hogwarts," she said, trying to decide if she should tell the boy about Professor Snape or not. In the end she decided it was best not to. There was no reason to scare the boy before he even went to the school. "I will be assisting him this year. So I guess we will be seeing each other at school."

"You will be at Hogwarts," he seemed really excited about this, which filled Ella with a joy that she had not experienced in a very long time. She had always wanted to be able to be close to James and Lily's son, but after their death, he went to live with his abusive and wizarding hating Muggle aunt and uncle.

"Yes I am," she said as enthusiastic as Harry. "I will be the Assistant teacher in Potions, which I have loved since I was a very young child."

"One o' the bes' potion brews I know," Hagrid said, finally standing up from the bed, looking more like himself. His words making Ella flustered. "Besides Professor Snape o' course."

"Who's Professor Snape?" asked Harry.

"Tha's right, Ella didn't get to sayin' yet," Ella tried to signal to him with her hands to stop while he was ahead. It wasn't a good idea to bring Severus up just yet with Harry. But of course Hagrid didn't understand what she was trying to tell him, and went on ahead with saying what he was going to say anyways. "Professor Snape's the Potion's Master at Hogwarts. He's the one who Ella here is goin' ter be working fer."

"You mean her friend," the boy said. "Who had given her this beautiful bird?"

'Oh, no,' was the only thing she could think as she heard those words come out of Harry's mouth. Maybe she shouldn't have mentioned that Shadow was a gift from Severus.

"I didn' know Professor Snape gave yeh Shadow," Hagrid said, looking really confused at Ella. "An' when have Professor Snape and yeh bin friends."

Ella just stood there not knowing what to do or say. No one else knew that Severus and she were close except her Grandfather and Professor McGonagall. It wouldn't be good if word got out that the girl, whose father was killed by death eater, was associating with an ex-death eater. There would be many questions and none that could not be answered, which only meant that people would come up with their own outlandish story. And even though she knew she could trust Hagrid. She just wasn't sure she could trust him to not say anything to anyone. He did have a tendency to say things he isn't supposed to say.

"Oh, I got all the Professor's Christmas presents every year, and after a while some of them gave gifts back," she said, lying through her teeth. "Severus was one of the few who knew about Scarlet my cat who had just passed away at the end of my fourth year, and was nice enough to get me Shadow for Christmas. He said in his usual grumpy way that he only did it to make up for all the gifts that I had given him for Christmas. Which in my eyes, it made him a sort of friend to me."

"Oh," was all Hagrid said, making Ella unsure if he believed her or not. But when he didn't mention anything else, she was sure he didn't catch her lie. It was unfortunately though that Harry noticed and gave her a hard calulating stare.

"Why don't you let me tie this note to Shadow and transfigure these beds back into the couch before we get going," she said, keeping her eyes away from Harry, not wanting to see his questioning gaze.

"_Busted," _Shadow said as he flew over to her and lifted his leg for her to tie the note to him. _"I knew that kid was smart."_

"Oh, shut up," she said, not realizing she said it out loud.

"No one didn' say nothin'," Hagrid said.

"Oh, sorry Hagrid, I was talking to myself."

"Are yeh alright there, Ella?" he said looking at her like she might be going crazy.

"Yes, I'm fine," she lied again.

As they walked through the little town to get to the station, many of the people stared at Hagrid in either fear or fascination. They had probably never seen someone as tall as him in their lives, and weren't quite sure what to make of the giant man.

On the walk to the station, Harry asked many questions about the wizarding world, reminding Ella that she would tell him everything he wanted to know. So Hagrid and Ella tried to answer him as best they could, but they both knew that it was much easier to understand if you saw it for yourself. You just couldn't get the entire experience from a few words, because the wizarding world was larger than life. Ella remembered seeing it for the first time. At the time, she thought it was the greatest thing in the world.

As they were riding on the train, Harry suddenly asked them a question that caught them off guard.

"I'm starting to guess that it wasn't a car crash that killed my parents," he said. "So what exactly was it?"

"CAR CRASH," Hagrid roared, getting out of his seat making other passengers jump up in fright. "How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandle!"

"Hagrid, sit down," Ella pleaded with him, looking at all the people who were staring and moving as far away from them as possible. "You're scaring the people on the train."

Hagrid looked and saw their frightened faces, finally realizing that they weren't somewhere where you could just simply talk about wizard things.

"Oh, sorry," he said, quickly sitting down, averting his eyes away from everyone.

"That is no way to handle the situation, Hagrid," Ella scolded him. "I know that you are angry about this, because I am just as angry as you. But that doesn't give us a right to act that way in public, especially in front of Muggle's."

"Yes, you're right o' course. I didn mean ter yell, I was jus really upset."

"I know," she smiled at the big guy. "Now, Harry. I can see you are very perceptive of things, more than most people are. But don't worry, that's a good thing. That means you will understand a lot more when we explain things to you. You need to understand that the wizarding world is nothing like the Muggle world, the two are very opposite. So the possiblity of your parents dying in a car crash, are zero to none. You aunt and uncle only told you that because car accidents in the Muggle world are very common and normal occrances. I also want to tell you that I won't be able to tell you everything, some of it is a big mystery still unknown to anyone."

"I understand, just tell me as much as you can," he said urgently.

"Yeh see Harry," Hagrid began. "It all started with a person called, well I don't usually like to say his name…"

"Oh for goodness sakes, Hagrid," Ella interrupted him. "His name was Voldemort."

"Ella," Hagrid said in complete bewilderment that she would even uttered You-Know-Who's name.

"I really don't get why everyone's afraid to say it," she said. "He's not even around anymore. There is no reason of being scared of a name."

"Why are people afraid?"

"Because Harry," she tried to explain to him. "Voldemort was a very dark wizard. You just can't imagine the things that he did. He killed without a care for the persons life. He would torcher who he saw fit to torcher. Many people at the time wanted him dead, and for good reasons too."

"Yeh see Harry," Hagrid said. "You-Know-Who was the one that killed yer parents. It was so sad. Jus terrible. I knew Lily and James, and they were darn good wizards. It's no surprise that You-Know-Who didn' try and get 'im on his side. He probably knew they were working with Dumbledore. Why he went to yer house and took your parents away from yeh, we jus don' know."

"I told you most things were a mystery, well the biggest of them isn't why he went to your house that night, it's more along the lines of what happened there. How is it possible that you a baby could have survived when the darkest wizard of our time tried to kill you, but instead got rid of himself."

"So he's dead?"

"Some say he died, but I think tha's a bunch of Codswallop. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die."

"Hagrid is right about that," Ella agreed to his statement. "I very much believe he is out there somewhere, just waiting for the right time to strike. It's a scary thought, I know. But it is also the most reasonable explanation."

"So what did happen to him? Why was I not killed?"

"Like I said before, no one is really sure. They just know that you made one of the most dangerous wizards alive vanish. That's why in the wizarding world, you are very famous."

"Me, famous?"

"Yes, trust me, you will understand when we get there."

Harry just sat quietly for the rest of the train ride think about what he had just been told.

As they made their way to London, Harry was starting to get really excited because he had never been there before. Poor Hagrid seemed lost, not knowing what to do. He got stuck in the ticket barrier on the Underground, and complained loudly that the seats were too small and the train too slow. It took everything that Ella had to keep him quiet.

"Do't know how Muggles can live without magic," Hagrid grumbled.

"It's a mystery to me as well, Hagrid," Ella said sarcastically.

Harry just laughed.

They walked through the streets of London, Hagrid moving large crowds out of their way, making it easier to pass. They walked by books stores, restaurants, places you buy clothing, the ordinary stuff you see in an everyday Muggle places.

"Were here," Ella said, stopping to open the door of a pub. "The Leaky Cauldron. It's quite famous."

As they went inside, Harry couldn't understand why it would be famous, it just looked like just a tiny grubby pub. If he wasn't shown the place, he probably wouldn't have even paid any attention to it, walking right past it in the streets.

The place was filled with many strange looking people that were sitting around drinking and mingling with each other. Everyone seemed to go still as they passed through. A lot of them seemed to know Hagrid because they were waving at him with smiles on their face.

"The usual, Hagrid?" the bartender asked as they made their way up to him.

"Sorry Tom, he can't," Ella replied for Hagrid. "We have some important business to take care of."

The man looked down at Harry and his eyes nearly popped out of his head at the sight of the boy.

"Good Lord," Tom the bartender said in shock. "Is that who I think it is? Bless my soul, Harry Potter. It is such an honor to meet you."

He moved his way to the other side of the bar and took Harry's hand in his to shake, tears falling down the man's face.

"Welcome back, Mr. Potter, welcome back."

"I think that's enough," Ella said, helping Harry pry his hands from the man. "You're overwhelming the boy."

"Yes, of course," he said, but it didn't stop him from gawking at Harry, just like everyone else in the bar was doing the minute they heard his name being said.

"Didn't I tell you," Ella whispered to him.

He only nodded his head at what she said.

People after people came up to meet him, some even more than once. There was even one Harry seemed to recognize. Doris Crockford was so delighted that Harry Potter remembered him that he shouted out, "He remembers. Did you hear that? He remembers me!"

"Professor Quirrell," Hagrid said to the pale man that was walking up to them. "Harry I wan' yeh ter meet Professor Quirrell, he's goin' ter be one of yer teachers at Hogwarts."

"P-P-Potter," Professor Quirrell said with a stammer in his voice. "I-It's a p-pleasure to meet you."

"What do you teach Professor Quirrell?"

"D-Defense Against the D-D-Dark Arts," muttered the Professor. "N-Not like you n-need it, eh, P-P-Potter," he laughed nervously.

"Oh, E-Ella," Quirrell said as he just recognized her next to Harry. "H-How are you? I h-h-heard you were w-working with P-Professor S-S-Snape."

"Yeah," was all she said to him, giving him a strange look.

He laughed strangely and said, "I b-better g-go." Rushing away all of a sudden.

They just looked as he hurried by them and out the door of the pub, not even saying a farewell.

"Is he always that nervous?" Harry asked.

"Oh yes. Poor bloke. Was fine while studyin' from books, than he went ter get some first-hand experience and ran into some nasty creatures, never been the same since."

"Can we get going," Ella said feeling uncomfortable the conversation. "We still need to go to Gringotts."

"Yeah, sure," Hagrid said.

They left, with a lot of people looking in disappointment as they made their way out the back door. They made their way to a small, walled courtyard, where there wasn't anthing but weeds and a trashcan. Ella walked up to the brick wall and tapped the wall with her wand a few times.

The brick that she tapped started to quiver and wiggle wildly, and suddenly in its place was a hole. The hole started to grow wider and wider, and soon they were facing a large archway that led to a cobblestoned street and twisted and turned out of sight.

Ella had a huge grin when she saw the amazed look that was upon Harry's face.

"Welcome," Hagrid said. "to Diagon Alley."

* * *

**Uh, I should really get a beta. I'm never able to edit my story because I am too tired and I want to make sure to update as soon as I can. So if this one isn't so great, it's because I'm tired and if I don't get the computer on the kitchen table by the time my dad goes to work, he's going to know that I was on it all night again. Then he won't ever let me use it again.**


	16. Chapter 15: Shopping in Diagon Alley

Chapter 15: Shopping in Diagon Alley

**Disclaimer: **There is only one true owner of Harry Potter, and that is J.K. Rowling.

**AN: I've had a really hard time with this chapter for some reason, and I think it's because I tried to make sure that it didn't go too far away from the original plot of The Philosophers Stone. Than I started thinking to myself; this is just a fanfic and my alternate version of the original and best book series in the world. So for now on, I'm not going to make it difficult on myself and try to make sure everything is in sync with the really Harry Potter book series. I'll just go with the flow and see where it takes me. So, please enjoy this chapter because it took a lot of work to finally get down. :D **

* * *

Changing and Chances

Everything became surreal for Harry the moment he set his eyes upon Diagon Alley. There it was, the proof and existence that wizards were real, that magic was real, and that his parents being magical meant he was as well. No more was he the little boy that was abused and neglected by his aunt and uncle, but now he was someone who had a place in the world, someone with an actual meaning and purpose in life other than to serve his aunt, uncle, and cousin.

A large grin spread across his face, which brought grins onto the other two standing next to him. He was transfixed by all the fascinating and wonderful shops that sold things like, cauldrons and owls, ingredients to make potions and wands, things you could never find or buy in a Muggle store.

It all was so grand, but also overwhelming. There was just so much to see, so many foreign things that he saw around him, it was actually making his head spin. This was who he was, this was his world and where he belonged all along. He could feel it in his bones.

As Hagrid and Ella crossed the path of the archway into the streets of Diagon Alley, Harry followed right behind them. He looked behind to see the archway slowly turn back into a regular brick wall. The idea of magic and seeing it happen, he was sure, would never get old.

As they walked down the streets passing people in all different color of robes and stores that displayed their products, Harry started to wish he had more than one pair of eyes. It was like he was a scientist on an alien planet, looking everywhere he could to learn and to understand the things that were surrounding him.

It seemed that Ella had the same idea of things as Harry, because he was sure he had never seen someone so excited in his life. She had stars in her eyes every time she saw an ingredient for a potion she had been meaning to make that was on sale. She got really animated when they passed by a store selling high quality cauldrons, stopping right in front of the store to look at all the new cauldron that was being displayed in the store front.

"Oh, oh, they have new and improved cauldrons," she said jumping up and down and pointing at what Harry thought looked like an oversized silver bowl. "I have to get one of these while were here, my old one was ruined by an idiot who thought it was okay to add pickled slugs before the rat spleen."

"Urm, Ella," Hagrid interrupted her before she went on her usual full on rant about why certain people should not make potions. She looked up at him with a huff, like he was interfering with something important. "Aren' we here fer Harry?"

"I already know that Hagrid," she said, irritation in her voice. "But there's nothing wrong with looking. Besides, he needs a cauldron anyways, so I will just get mine when he gets his, simple as that. But before we do that, we will be needing to head to Gringott's. So stop wasting time and get a move on, come on."

That day Hagrid and Harry learned something important, never mess with a women when they are shopping, or than you will be getting an ear full. Severus would be laughing at their naivety at the moment. He was smarter than to ever go shopping with Ella, she was just too insufferable and he couldn't stand it.

Ella hurried both of them away from the shop she had stopped to look into, and rushed them back to the streets heading all the way down to the large white building that was the wizard bank Gringotts.

"What's Gringotts?" asked Harry.

"It's where we'll be gettin' yer money so we can go shopping fer yer school things," Hagrid explained to the boy. "It's operated by goblins an' a very safe place ter keep yer money."

"Goblins, I didn't know there were such a thing," he said, intrigued to know what else he would be learning. "I've heard of stories about them, but never did I imagine that they were actually real."

"Where do you think people got those stories?" said Ella. "You will soon find that there is a truth to everything out there."

They stopped in front of a large building that towered over all the other little shops that were surrounding it. It was a clean white color, and it had large steps that brought you to the top where two bronze doors took you inside. Standing in front of the door's was a small little creature that was only a bit shorter than Harry.

"If yer wonderin'," Hagrid whispered to him as they climbed up the steps. "Yes, tha's a goblin."

Harry saw as they passed and the goblin bowed them inside, that he had a cunning looking face, a pointed beard, and long fingers and feet. In Harry's mind, goblins were strange looking things.

As they walked through the bronze doors, there was another door, but this one was silver. Harry saw that there was something written on it, it read:

Enter, stranger, but take heed

Of what awaits the sin of greed,

For those who take, but do not earn,

Must pay most dearly in their turn.

So if you seek beneath our floors

A treasure that was never yours,

Thief, you have been warned, beware

Of finding more than treasure there.

Ella chuckled as she read this, confusing Harry on why the wording would be funny. She saw his questioning look and replied with, "You would have to be a crazy person to dare break into Gringotts. This warning they wrote on the door is all too real. Like Hagrid said, it's one of the safest places, second to Hogwarts of course. They have unimaginable things to keep people from stealing. Things like dragons, or at least that is what people are told. It was even said that they find the bones of people who have tried to break in but could never escape."

"Dragons?" Harry asked.

"Yep, dragons," Hagrid sighed. "I've always wanted one."

"Hagrid, you know as much as I do that dragons are illegal to own," Ella reprimanded him. "They are very dangerous creatures, and need to be taken care of by witches and wizards that know what they are doing. Imagine if they allowed whoever to own one, it would be a danger to the owner, anyone that was close by, and the dragon itself."

Hagrid just ignored what she said, and walked through the silver doors being bowed inside by a few more goblins. She just shook her head at how careless her friend was with the dangers of some magical creatures. She just decided to forget about it, and ushered Harry through the doors following close behind Hagrid.******  
**

They walked into a marble hall where a hundred more goblins were sitting on high up chairs behind a long counter, and many of them were scribbling on large ledgers, weighing coins on brass scales, and examining precious jewels through eyeglasses. There were more showing people through the many doors that were in the hall, so you could guess that there was a large amount of goblins working in Gringotts. Hagrid made straight toward the counter, and Ella and Harry followed right behind.

"Morning," Hagrid said to one of the free goblins as Harry and Ella just walked up and stood besides him. "We've come ter take some money outta Mr. Harry Potter's safe."

"You have his key, sir?"

"Ella?" Hagrid asked, but didn't need to because she already had the key in her hand giving it to the goblin.

He took a close look at the key and then said, "Everything seems to be in order."

"I'll be needing to get into my own vault as well," she said handing him another key, and he took a look at it and then nodded at her request.

Ella nudged Hagrid to remind him about the real reason why her grandfather wanted them to make a trip to Gringotts.

"Oh, yes," he said, taking out a piece of paper from his large coat. "A letter from Professor Dumbledore about the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen."

The goblin read the letter closely and nodded his head saying, "Everything checks out fine, why don't I get someone to take you to your vaults. Griphook!"

A goblin came walking up towards them, and as he saw Ella standing there, he seemed quite delighted as he looked up at her with a kind smile. Ella looked right back at him with the same cordial lift of her mouth. It was obvious that these two knew each other.

"Griphook," Ella said in a friendly greeting. "It is so nice to see you again."

"Same here, Miss Mason," he replied with a small bow.

"How has our friend been doing? Hopefully not getting himself into trouble anymore."

"No, he has not been in trouble since the last time we both saw him."

"That's good."

Hagrid looked to be interested in this exchange between the witch and the goblin, but thought it was better not to ask at the moment. So instead he kept quiet as Griphook brought them over to one of the doors.

"What's You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen?" asked Harry.

"Now, you know he wouldn't have said that if it wasn't a secret," Ella said as Griphook opened the door for them and they entered all together. "It's very important Hogwarts business, that's all you need to know."

They were in a much different room than the other they had just came from. It was very hard to see because instead of lights, there were torches lining the walls. The walls were not made of marble like Harry expected, but of a dark stone. From what he could make out, he could see that it steeped low, and there were small railroad tracks on the floor. Griphook whistled and a cart came rolling up the tracks towards them. They all got in, with a few difficulties because of Hagrid's size, and then zoomed off.

They twisted and turned through many passages along the way, so fast and through so many that it was hard for Harry to keep count. But he wasn't worried because it looked like the cart knew where they were going as he noticed that Griphook wasn't the one that was steering.

His eyes were getting really watery from the cold air that was hitting his face, but he was to inraptured in everything that he was seeing, that he didn't want to close his eyes. He was sure he saw some fire, and looked to see if it were a dragon or not, but the cart went too fast and by the time he looked, they were in a new passage. They even passed an underground lake that had stalagmites and stalactites growing from the ceiling and the floor.

"What's the difference between a stalagmite and stalactite?" Harry said over the noise of the cart.

"Stalagmites got an 'm' in it," said Hagrid. "An' don' ask me questions just now, I think I'm gonna be sick."

Both Ella and Harry took a quick look at Hagrid and saw the concentrated look that was on his face. He looked like a person willing themselves not to throw up.

"Hagrid gets motion sickness," Ella told Harry. "Stalactites hang from above the ceiling and face downward, were as the stalagmites are on the ground and face upward. That answer your question for you."

"Yeah, thank you," he said politely.

"Anytime," she said smiling down at him, still not believe how grown up he was. The last time she saw him, Harry was one years old, and a tiny little thing. "You know that if you have any questions, you can come and ask me, or Hagrid here when he isn't in a fast moving object."

"I'll remember that," he said.

When they stopped, Hagrid looked almost relieved, but still very green in the face. He hurried out of the cart and leaned up against the wall breathing deeply. His whole body was trembling, and Ella felt horrible for the poor man.

"Don' got anymore of tha' potion, do yeh Ella?" he asked.

"I'm sorry Hagrid," she said, now feeling even worse. "The one I gave you last night was the only one I had."

As Hagrid was composing himself, Griphook put the key into Harry's vault and opened it, and while it opened, a lot of green smoke came out. As the smoke cleared, a room full of golden, silver, and bronze coins was revealed, heaps of it. Harry gasped as he saw all of it.

"All yours," Hagrid told Harry as he saw the amazed look upon his face.

Harry was in shock, all of this was his. He was sure the Dursley's didn't know he had this kind of money, cause if they did, they would take it quicker than a thief when he sees a wallet in his reach. Harry didn't know how many times they went on and on about how much it cost them to keep him around. Who would have guessed that he had a small fortune lying somewhere beneath London's grounds.

Ella helped Harry making sure he piled the right amount of money he would be needing into a bag that she had produced out of one of her pockets for him. And after they were done, to Hagrid's dismay, they got back into the cart and took off in the same fast speed as the last time.

"The gold coins are Gallons, the silver Sickles, and the bronze Nuts," Ella explained to him as they made their way a little lower to get to Ella's vault. "There's seventeen Sickles to a Gallon and twenty-nine Nuts to a Sickle. See, all very simple. The wizarding world is nothing at all like the Muggle world, where everything has to always be done in a complex way."

It didn't take them too long to reach Ella's vault, only a few minutes are more. As Griphook opened her vault, Harry was completely speechless as he saw how much gold was in her vault. There was barely any silver, and she had no bronze coins at all. Not only that, Ella had more than three times as much as he had in his vault. He couldn't guess for the life of him how someone as young as Ella could come to possess so much money.

She got back into the cart when she was done scooping up a large pile of Gallons into a big bag, and they took off again.

"What?" she asked, as she saw both the looks of Harry and Hagrid.

"Nothing," the both of them said quickly, but she wasn't buying it. She knew what they really wanted to ask her. But it was obvious why they didn't say anything. Hagrid was probably too afraid, while Harry didn't want to be rude and ask questions that were none of his business, like his question about what was in vault seven hundred and thirteen.

"Can we possibly go slower?" Hagrid asked Griphook, as another bout of nausea hit him.

"Only one speed," was all the goblin told him. Hagrid looked quite upset when he heard this. How was he going to make it all the way down and back up again without throwing up on everyone that was in the cart?

They were now going deeper and deeper, and were going much faster than before. They were taking much sharper turns, which was no help for Hagrids sour stomach. As they passed a ravine, Harry looking over the edge to see what was at the bottom, only to be pull back by a groaning Hagrid.

As they finally made it to vault seven hundred and thirteen, Harry saw that it didn't have any keyhole like the other ones did. He wondered how they were going to get it opened. His question was answered when Griphook went up to the vault door and stroked it, and as he did, the entire door melted away.

"If anyone but a Gringotts goblin tried that, they'd be sucked through the door and trapped in there," said Griphook.

"How many times do you check and see if anyone's inside?" Harry asked.

"About once every ten years," Griphook grinned, while Ella laughed not surprised by this at all.

Something really important had to be in there to go through all this trouble in keeping it locked up. Harry took a look inside, and only saw a grubby looking brown paper bag. Hagrid picked this up and put it in one of the many pockets in his coat.

"Come on, let's get this over with," Hagrid said, as everyone climbed back into the cart. "Bloody infernal cart."

Ella laughed at his bad language because she rarely ever heard him speak in such a way. Today was looking to be more amusing than Ella ever imagined.

As they walked out of Gringotts, and where now back on the streets of Diagon Alley, both Ella and Harry with their pockets full of money, were ready to go shopping. Harry was especially excited, he had never had money of his own to spend, and now for the first time in his life, he was holding more money than he had ever seen and more than Dudley ever had. Hagrid saw both of their excitement, but couldn't really join in with how bad he was feeling from the wild cart ride.

"Ella, do yeh mind taking Harry ter go get his robes while I go an' have a drink down at the Leaky Cauldron?" he asked her. "I'm still feelin' a bit sick in the stomach."

"I don't know how a drink will help you there," she told him. "But I don't mind taking Harry to get his things. You can just go and relax while we go shopping if you like."

"Thank you, but I will be back soon."

"Take your time," she called out as he walked away back to where they had first started.

Ella smiled down at Harry and steered him to a store that was called Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. As they walked into the store, a squat and smiling witch came up to them.

"Ella dear, is that you," she said, coming up to her and giving her a hug. "I haven't seen you around lately. All of us miss you, you need to come by more often. Oh, and who's is this, a Hogwarts student I am assuming."

"Yes, he will be needing some school robes," she said, as she looked down at the young boy standing next to her.

"Well, come on in," she said, guiding them to where another boy was getting fitted for robes.

Ella knew exactly who's son he belonged to, how could she not. After all, his father was the one who had killed her's. But she had promised herself long ago that she would let it go, because that's exactly what her father would have wanted her to do. She kind of felt sorry for this young boy, he would probably grow up to be just like his father, but only because that was the environment he was raised in.

She decided to stand a little further away, not wanting to get in the way. Lucius's boy started to talk to Harry, and she listened in. Nothing that came out of his mouth was a surprise to her, it was exactly what she was expecting. Harry looked like he was not enjoying talking to the boy at all, he kept looking over to her as if to tell her to get him away. She did no such thing, because all she needed was for Lucius Malfoy to know of her existence. That would just be a load of trouble waiting to happen.

"Who's that pretty lady you walked in here with?" the boy asked Harry. "She looks too young to be your mother?"

'Too late,' Ella thought. Guess she couldn't go anywhere without drawing attention to herself. She considered it more of a curse than a blessing.

"No," Harry told the boy. "She's not my mother, she's someone that works at Hogwarts."

"My father never told me about her, I wonder why?"

"She's just beginning this year, she's going to be the Assistant Teacher for the Potions Professor."

"Strange that father wouldn't know about that, he's good friends with Professor Snape."

'Oh, no,' Ella got a sinking feeling in her stomach. 'Severus is not going to like this.' She would surely be hearing it when Lucius contacted him to ask about her. That was a conversation she wasn't waiting to have.

"I'll see you at Hogwarts," the boy said finally leaving, as Madam Malkin finished up with him. As the boy exited out the door, Ella felt almost relieved letting out a breath she didn't even know she was holding in. Why did they have to run into a Malfoy, it was just her luck.

Five minutes after young Mr. Malfoy left, Harry was finally finished getting his robes fitted and than paying for them. They left the store right after Ella sad her goodbyes to Madam Malkin and promising her to visit again.

As they were walking to Flourish and Blotts to get Harry his school books, Ella was curious why Harry was so quiet. He hadn't spoke since he talked to Lucius's son, and this really worried her. She tried to rack her brain for what the boy could have said to upset him so much, that he was all of a sudden standoffish.

"What is Harry?" she finally asked after coming up with nothing.

"It's just," he bagan. "Everyone is making it seem like I'm really great and special, like those people in the Leaky Cauldron, but I don't know anything about the being a wizard."

"That's what you're fretting yourself with?" she said, almost in a relieved tone. She thought it was going to be about how he wished he had his parents around like the other children. If he said that, she wouldn't be sure what to tell him. "You don't worry about what all those other people say, you just be yourself. You might not know about your wizarding history, but there are many kids that start out in Hogwarts that don't know anything either."

"You mean like what that boy said, about the Muggle's who become witches or wizards?"

"Not only that, but there are some with only wizarding parent who hasn't told them what they are yet. See, you have nothing to worry about. You are starting out like almost every other kid."

"Thanks, Ella," he said, starting to feel better that maybe he wouldn't be the odd one out.

"Now why don't you turn that frown of yours upside down, and lets go do some shopping."

And that's exactly what they did, going from store to store buying Harry his school things that were on his list and Ella things she just wanted to get. She showed him the best place to buy cauldrons and helped him pick out one that she thought was top of the line for a first year. She also helped him in the Apothecary, where he had no idea what kind of ingredients he needed to buy. By the time they got all the things he needed, they both were carrying large piles of their purchases, well maybe Ella had a little more than Harry.

The last place to go was to get Harry his wand, and they were both shocked to see Hagrid waiting outside with a beautiful snow white owl in a birdcage.

"Yer birthday present," he said, as he handed Harry the bird cage. "Tha's why it took me so long, I went ter go buy yeh her."

Harry went up to Hagrid and hugged him, thanking him.

"Hagrid," Ella said with what looked like teary eyes. "That was so sweet of you."

"Aww, it was nothing," he said embarrassed. "I figured he would be needin' one."

"Well, now that you're here, I guess you can go with us to get him his wand."

Harry couldn't wait as they walked toward Ollivanders, which Hagrid told Harry was the best place to get a wand. He walked into the shop, and the first thing he saw was how small the shop was, and all the tiny boxes that were neatly stacked up on the wall all the way to the ceiling.

"Hello there," an old man said with a gentle voice. Both Hagrid and Harry jumped, being taken by surprise, while Ella just giggled at their reaction to the sudden appearance of Ollivander the wandmaker.

The old man was now standing right in front of them, he had shiny bright eyes that had a hidden intelligence in them.

"Hello," Harry said.

"Ah, yes, Mr. Potter," he replied. "I knew you would be coming in here today. You have your mothers eyes. I remember the first day she walked into my store to by her wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. A very nice wand for charm work.

"Your father though, he favored a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and very excellent for transfiguration. But, the wand chooses the wizard really."

Ollivander started to get nearer and nearer Harry, so close that they could be nose to nose.

"And that must be where..."

He touched the scar on top of his head with his long white fingers.

"I'm truly sorry that I was the one who made the wand who did that. Thirteen-and-a-half-inches. Very powerful wand. If I would have known what that wand was going to do... But I guess there is nothing that could be done about it now."

"Oh, Ella," he said as he looked at the young woman standing next to Harry. "Twelve and a half inches, pine, unyielded, very lovely and powerful wand. And Hagrid, too. Oak, sixteen inches, rather bendy, wasn't it."

"Yes it was sir," Hagrid replied.

"Good wand, but I guess they snapped it in half when you got expelled," he said, suddenly turning stern.

"Oh, yes they did," Hagrid said, feeling a bit uncomfortable now. "But I still go the pieces."

"Don't use them, do you."

"Of course not sir," he said, but both Harry and Ella saw how he pulled his umbrella closer to him.

"Good," the old man said. "Now, why don't we find a wand for you Harry."

Ella and Hagrid became quiet as Mr. Ollivander flung many wand into Harry's hand and then took them back when they did nothing. Ella was not able to count how many wand Harry tried out, she never remembered it being this difficult for herself.

"Hm, maybe," Ollivander said, and went back behind the counter and came out with another box. "Now try this one. Holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple."

Harry took the wand and brought it up and swished it, and out of the tip came red sparks. They all cheered as he finally found the wand for him.

"Interesting, very interesting," the old wandmaker said.

"What's interesting?" Harry asked, confused by what the old man was saying.

"It's just strange that the phoenix feather in the core of your wand, gave only one other, and the wand that has that feather was the one that gave you that scar."

Harry took in a large breath.

"Fawkes," Ella said quietly.

"Yes, that is correct Miss Mason," Ollivander said, hearing what she said even though the others didn't. "Professor Dumbledore's phoenix is who those two feathers belong too. I wonder how you knew that."

"I'm very close to the Headmaster," she said, sweating a little. "He helped me out when my father died. He's a very good man."

"Yes he is," he said, a little suspicious looking right through her. She shivered, not liking the calculating look he was giving her.

As they left the wand store, it was now the late afternoon. Ella was really quiet as they walked their way back to the Leaky Cauldron, and made their way back on the London streets. They decided to get something to eat before getting Harry on the train. As they sat and eat on a bench in the Underground, people stared at them strangely with all the packages they were carrying.

By the time Harry's train arrived, they were done eating, and they both helped him up onto the train. Hagrid pulled out a letter from his coat and handed it to Harry.

"Yer ticket fer Hogwarts," he explained.

"And remember if the Dursley's give you any problems, just send you're owl with a letter, and don't worry she will find me. I will be there faster than you know it," Ella told him, giving him a hug and not wanting to let go.

As they were done saying their goodbyes to Harry, and the train started to leave, Ella quickly held onto Hagrid and Apparated both outside the Hogwarts gates.

Hagrid felt all of a sudden like he was going to be sick again.

"Next time warn me when yer goin' ter do tha', Hagrid just groaned, going green again.

"Sorry, Hagrid," she said, apologizing quickly. "I needed to head back to school and didn't want to leave you there." After she explained, she took off for the castle, only with a quick wave goodbye to Hagrid.

As she entered through Hogwarts doors, she was meant by a very angry looking Severus, but she had no time for whatever he was going to say, and ran right past him. He blinked a couple of times, and went right after her. He followed her all the way to the Headmasters office.

"I demand that Harry not stay with those horrible Muggle's anymore!" she yelled as she barged right into her grandfather's office without knocking.

"Hello to you too, Ella," he said, looking up from a piece of paper that he was reading. "Is Hagrid back, I really do need the stone."

"He'll be up soon," she said, waving that off. "But right now, I want to talk about how you sent Harry to live with people that loath him and treat him badly. I won't have him staying with them anymore."

"What I would like to talk about!" Severus started yelling, as he came right up behind Ella. "Is why Lucius Malfoy asking me why I never told him about my new assistant!"

"Not right now, Severus," Ella said exasperatedly, already seeing this coming. "Now, grandfather, what do you say about me taking him in for the summer instead."

"I'm sorry Ella dear, but it can't be done," said Dumbledore, looking at his granddaughter with compassion, knowing exactly how she felt. "He has to stay with them, it is what keeps him protected."

"Well, does he have to stay the entire summer there?" she asked, hoping for a positive answer.

"I guess we can work something out," he said as he gave her a twinkle of his eye and one of his smiles.

"Really," she said excitedly, going up and giving her grandfather a hug. "Thank you so much."

Dumbledore laughed in delight at his granddaughters happiness, and hugged her right back. But when the hug was over, gave her a very serious look

"But there is going to be some exceptions," he said, warning her. "He has to stay there at least a month before you can go and pick him up."

"Yes, anything. A few months is better than him staying there for the whole three."

"Is anyone going to listen to me?" Severus asked in frustration.

"Fine," Ella said, turning around to look at Severus figuring she was going to have to tell him soon enough anyways, so why not now. "While I was taking Harry to get his robes, we ran into Lucius's son."

"You mean Draco?"

"If that is what his name is, I'm sure you know better than I do. Anyway, he started to talk to Harry, and like always, I draw some kind of attention to myself, unfortunately. He asked about me, and Harry not knowing not to say anything, told him that I was working at Hogwarts this year as your assistant. There, are you satisfied. Now if you'll excuse me, I would like to rest for a while, it was a long day for me after all."

Ella hurried as quickly as she could out of the office, trying to get as far a distance as she could from the angry Snape. Severus just stood there for a few minutes, but quickly realized what she was doing and went right after her.

"You get back here, Ella!" Dumbledore heard Severus howler out. "I'm not done with you!"

The Headmaster just chuckled as he went back to reading the paper that was on his desk.

* * *

**Sorry for the rushed ending, I needed to really end this chapter because it was starting to give me writer's block, which I want to stay away from. I promise you that next chapter will be much better.**


	17. Chapter 16: The School Year Begins

Chapter 16: The School Year Begins

** Disclaimer:** There is only one true owner of Harry Potter, and that is J.K. Rowling.

**AN: Sorry I haven't been able to update in so long, I've had some family issues. Also, my wisdom teeth have bugged me a lot lately and have made me really sick, so you can see why it would be so hard to write anything. I'm hoping I can get better soon so I can post more often. Enjoy the new chapter. **

Changing and Chances

It was the end of summer, which only meant one thing for children; it was time to go back to school. For one kid in England though, he was heading to a school not many children went to. This wasn't your normal school where you learned of Math, English and Science, but Charms, Potions and Transfigurations. That's right, this was a school for young wizards and witches to learn magic. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was its name, and it was there that a boy named Harry Potter would be attending for the first time. But before he got to the school, he had to take the train at Kings Cross. His only problem, his ticket said he needed to be on platform 9 and 3/4, but there was no such platform at Kings Cross, or at least that's what his uncle told him.

At this moment, Harry Potter was in the back of his aunt and uncle's car on his way to the train station, his frightened cousin sitting next to him. Any time Harry would make any kind of move, Dudley would whimper and scoot as far away as he could from him. But Harry wasn't paying his cousin any mind, he was too busy with his own problems. What would happen if he couldn't find his train in time and it left without him, he would be stuck at the station? Surely the Dursley's wouldn't come and get him, and his only hope was that someone at Hogwarts recognized his absence, like Ella or Hagrid, and would come and get him to bring him to school. He sat there contemplating these things the entire way to Kings Cross.

As they finally made it to Kings Cross, Harry was even more worried now than before. He had butterflies in his stomach doing flips and cartwheels. His uncle dumped his things on a cart and started to wheel it into the station for him. Harry thought this was uncharacteristically nice of him, because Uncle Vernon had always made it quite clear about his dislike for Harry. But he became himself again when he stopped in front of the platforms and a huge grin formed on his plump face.

"There you are, platform 9 and platform 10. You will be somewhere in the middle there, when they make such a thing."

Uncle Vernon guffawed loudly, and slowly Harry felt a horrible sinking feeling start to form in his abdomen. But it went away as quickly as it came, because walking away is was an angel without wings, Ella. She had a large smile on her face that brightened the entire place up. Many people were gawking at her, mostly men of course. The only man in the train station who wasn't transfixed by her was Mr. Dursley, who was more frightened of her than mesmerized of her beauty.

"Harry," she said his name with much enthusiasm, as she came up and gave him a tight hug. "It's so great to see you again."

"It's great to see you too," he said, as he hugged her back just as tightly. He didn't have to fake excitement, because he was so relieved and happy to see her there. It made him feel like he wasn't in this alone, and that there was someone who actually cared about him.

She let go and looked over to Harry's uncle who was squirming in place, obviously very uncomfortable with her presence. Ella was sure he would pee his pants any moment.

"Hello again Mr. Dursley," she said, with a sugar sweet voice. "Is your son enjoying the tail I gave him."

He looked to be completely insulted by her words, and became purple in the face because of his anger. But he did not lash out in any way, too afraid that she would give him a pig's tail as well. Instead he just huffed and left without a word to either Ella or his nephew Harry. Now it was Ella's turn to be angry and insulted. The least the man could do was say goodbye to his nephew. She guessed she didn't expect anything less from a wizard hating Muggle, who in her opinion, needed to lose a lot of weight.

"I guess we best get going," she said to Harry, deciding to ignore the Dursley's rude treatment of Harry, for now at least. "You don't want to be late for your train."

"Oh, yeah," Harry said, quickly remembering his dilemma with his ticket. "I don't understand where I am supposed to get onto the train. The ticket says platform 9 and 3/4, but there is no such platform."

"Yes," she nodded her head, like she was confirming something she already knew. "It took me a week to figure out that Hagrid and I didn't exactly tell you everything you needed to know. And it took another week and a pile of really long letters to convince the Headmaster to let me come here and escort you to the train."

"You didn't have to go through all that trouble for me," he told her, but secretly he was glad that she did.

"It was no trouble at all. I was in an unknown uninhabited forest with Severus most of the summer gathering potion ingredients, it was nice to do something other than harvesting. Besides, I enjoy arguing with the Headmaster; it's fun."

Harry saw her smile when she said this and felt like he was missing something. Harry didn't know Professor Dumbledore yet, but he was sure he wouldn't call arguing with the Headmaster of a school exactly fun. It was more like really intimidating.

"Come on," she said, moving her head sideways to gesture toward the platforms. "I'll show you how to get to the right place. It's actually really easy."

Ella started walking her way to the middle of platforms 9 and 10, so Harry pushed his cart with his trunk and owl Hedwig, and followed right alongside her. As they were walking, many people in the station were staring at them. The men gawked at Ella's strange attractiveness, while Harry was looked at because Hedwig was being loud in her cage. Ella just seemed to disregard their looks, but Harry couldn't stop the feeling of tons of eyes looking at him all at once.

He looked to the side of him and saw a family of redhead's who were getting curious looks from people as well. A short plump woman was guiding five children with carts that had trunks on them just like his, and they were heading in the same direction Ella and he were.

Ella stopped, staring at the barrier between platform 9 and 10, and said to him, "That is how you get on the platform to your train." He just stared at her like she was crazy, but she just laughed at the stunned face he was giving her.

"Ella," they both heard someone calling her name. They looked behind them, and Harry saw that it was that same plump woman he saw before. "Is that you dear?"

"Mrs. Weasley," Ella looked at the woman with delight. She went up to her and hugged her, having to bend down a little because of her small height. "It's been so long since I've seen you. How is Bill doing? Is he still working in Egypt as one of Gringotts curse-breakers?"

"It's nice of you to ask," she said as she took Ella's hand in hers and patted it. "Bill is doing just fine, and yes he is still working in Egypt. He asked about how you were doing a few times, but couldn't tell him much because you haven't owled us any letters yet."

"I'm so sorry ," she said sincerely. "I've just been so busy."

"Do not worry yourself dear, I know you have worked very hard. It seems like it has worked in your favor. Becoming the Assistant Potions Professor at Hogwarts is an honor, and you should be proud of yourself."

"Thank you Mrs. Weasley," she said as she looked behind her. "And look at all of you so grown up already."

"Hello Ella," Percy the oldest said in greeting, and then turned to him mother. "Mom, we'll need to go now, the train will be leaving soon."

"Oh yes, got a little side tracked there. Well Percy, I guess you can go first."

Harry watched with close attention as the older boy took off, trying to see exactly what he was going to do. But before he could see, people were walking by obscuring his view. By the time the people left and he could see again, the boy was gone and nowhere to be seen.

"You're next Fred," Mrs. Weasley said to one of her sons.

I'm not Fred, I'm George," he replied back. "Honestly woman, and you call yourself our mother. Can't you see that I am George?"

"Sorry George," she apologized.

"Just joking, I am Fred," he said, and then he too took off with his cart. Harry watch him, and this time, no one walked in front of him, so he was able to see as he headed toward the barrier, then vanished. A boy who looked just like him, went ran to the barrier and vanished just like his twin brother.

"I don't understand," Harry tried to explain.

"First time?" Mrs. Weasley asked. "It's Ron's first time too. Just walk straight in between the two platforms and it will take you right to the Hogwarts Express. Don't worry about running into the barrier, just keep going. It usually helps if you run."

Ella could see the unsure look upon his face, and with a motherly kindness asked, "Would you like me to go with you?"

He nodded his head and said, "If that would be alright."

"Sure it would be," she said. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yes."

So Harry took off in a quick run with Ella right next to him. As they got closer and closer to the barrier, he was sure they were going to crash, but instead was surprised to go straight through. As he looked up and saw a sign that read, 'Platform 9 3/4'.

"Didn't I tell you it would be easy?" Ella said as she smiled down at him as she saw his eyes glow when got his first glimpse of the Hogwarts Express.

He just smiled right back up to her in confirmation.

Around them were many children of many ages, they all seemed to be really excited, except the first years, a lot of them had a nervous look to them. It all seemed really ordinary, well besides the owls and school robes that some of the children were wearing. Other than that, it looked like a bunch of kids getting ready to go to school for the year.

Ella took him further back, were it seemed like there were more open seats on the train. They passed a very round-faced boy who was telling his Grandmother about his lost toad. He saw Ella look at the boy in a sad and compassionate way.

As they made it to the end of the train, Harry turned to Ella waiting for her to say what he needed to do next, but she looked to be considering something.

"Fred, George!" she called out the names of the boys who he saw pass the barrier. "I need the both of you real quick!"

In a flash, they both were standing in front of Ella saluting her.

"Fred and George reporting for duty ma'am," they both said at the same time.

"Okay, that's enough of that," she said. "And don't let me catch you two calling me ma'am again. I got a task for you guy's, if you want it. In return, I'll give the both of you twenty house points each when we get to Hogwarts."

"Cool, you can give house points?" Fred said.

"Yes, and I can take them away too," she said in a stern tone. "Now, what I need you to do for me is to help Mr. Harry Potter here to get his things on the train, and make sure he is seated comfortably by the time the train leaves."

"No way, you're Harry Potter?" it was George who said this.

"We definitely have to help him now, don't we George."

"I would say so, Fred."

They started to get his trunk and put it into the train. Ella just laughed and shook her head at the twins mannerism. She guessed they hadn't changed much from the last time she saw them.

"Now Harry, I'll see you at school," she said as she looked down at him. "Are you sure you will be fine."

"Yes," he replied with a quick nod.

"Good, now you should be getting on the train, it will be leaving soon."

He did as Ella said and walked up into the train as and went and helped Fred and George to put his trunk away safe in the corner of the compartment. As Mrs. Weasley called for them and they left, Harry looked out the window to see the redhead family. It looked like Ella was standing right next to them, probably talking to Mrs. Weasley again.

"Ron you have something on your nose," Harry heard her say as she took out a handkerchief and started rubbing the head of his nose as he tried to get away.

"Mom, geroff," he said as he finally got free.

"Aw, does ikle Ronnie have somefink on his nose," one of the twins said, but Harry wasn't sure which one.

"Shut up," the boy named Ron said.

"It seems to me that the two of you don't want those house points," Ella said, reprimanding them as she looked up at Harry and gave him a mischievous smile. "I can still take them away."

"No, no, will be good," Fred said in a rush.

"Yes, we promise," George finished.

Ella seemed satisfied with this, as she gave them each an approving look. Her plan to keep the twins in lines seemed to be working so far.

"Where is Percy?" Mrs. Weasley asked her sons, as she was searching around for her oldest.

"He's coming right now."

Sure enough, there he was with his Hogwarts robes now on and a silver badge with the letter _P_ pinned on it. "Sorry Mother, I can't stay long. The prefects have got two compartments in the front all to themselves."

One of the twins was about to say something, but with a firm look from Ella, he shut his mouth right up.

Percy hurriedly kissed his mom on the cheek, and then made his way back to the front of the train.

"Alright dears, have a good term, and make sure you send me an owl once you get there. Oh, Fred and George, please behave yourselves. If I get one more owl about you doing something like blowing up a toilet..."

"Blowing up a toilet, we've never blown up a toilet."

"Yeah, but thanks for the idea mom."

"That's not funny, and make sure you keep an eye on Ron."

Before the twins got themselves into more trouble, Ella said to Mrs. Weasley, "You don't have to worry, I'll be there this year, and I'll take it upon myself to make sure to watch over your sons."

"Oh, bless your soul dear," she said with tears in her eyes. Ella was just pleased that she could relieve Mrs. Weasley's worries. The Weasleys were a great family, and really good friends of hers, she would do anything to help them out.

"Hey mom, you know that boy who was with Ella," Fred said, suddenly remembering. "He's Harry Potter."

"Oh my, is this true?" she asked Ella.

"Yes, it is."

"I want to see him," Ginny the youngest of the Weasley's said. "Please mom, can I see him."

"You have already seen him Ginny. Besides, he is a person just like us, not something you google at in a zoo. The poor boy, I can just imagine."

"He will be alright," Ella said in determination. "If anything, I will make sure of that. After what his parents did for me, there is no way I can just simply abandon him."

As Mrs. Weasley gushed at Ella's kindness, her sons said a quick goodbye and all went to get into the train before it left without them.

The train started to move, and Mrs. Weasley stood there and started waving at her children. Ginny just laughed and cried, and ran after the train trying to keep up with it. But before they were out of sight, Harry saw Ella nod his way and then wink at him. He couldn't stop laughing as he saw this.

"It so wonderful of you Ella to come here and make sure the boy gets to Hogwarts safely."

"That boy is like a younger brother to me, there's nothing I wouldn't do for him."

"Well I'm glad he has someone who is watching out for him."

As Ella heard this, she felt a small amount of contentment, like a part of a heavy burden slowly lifting. Her whole life she felt she should have done more for Harry as he grew up, but was never given the chance. She felt even worse when she saw how he was treated by the Dursley's. Now she finally had that opportunity to make sure that he got the care and love he needed.

"I'll see you later Mrs. Weasley, I need to be heading back to the castle. And don't worry, if anything at all happens with the boys, I'll make sure to contact you."

"Thank you Ella," she said as she brought Ella into a hug.

"A good day to you too, Ginny," Ella said bending down on her knee and hugging the young girl. "Be good for your mom and dad, and don't worry, next year will be here sooner than you think."

"Okay," Ginny said nodding and smiled.

A few seconds later after all goodbyes were said, Ella Apparated herself back to Hogwarts right at the gates. It was when she was walking through the ground almost half way to the castle, when she saw something red and gold flying right toward her. There was no way for her not to recognize that it was Fawkes, after all, how many Phoenix's do you see around you on a daily basis.

He landed right on a low branch on a tree she was standing next to. As he looked down upon her from his perch, he bowed his head and Ella did the same back.

"Hello Fawkes," she said in greeting. "What brings you out of my grandfather's office, I rarely ever see you out unless it is something important."

"I am sorry for having to disturb you young one, but there is a matter that needs your immediate presence."

Ella was not pleased to hear this, because whatever it was, had to be something very serious. Fawkes did not purposely seek someone for a nice talk, but affairs that were more on the urgent side.

"Is everything alright with grandfather?" she asked in a panic, already thinking the worst.

"Your grandfather is fine child," he replied. "It is he who was the one who sent me to find you. He heard very distressing news today, but is not being allowed to check it out for himself. So he thought that it was best you do it since the creatures, especially the centaurs, trust you more than they trust any of the other wizards."

"Wait," she said, now completely puzzled. "You mean to tell me that this has to do with something in the Forbidden Forest. Strange that I hadn't sensed anything the minute I walked on the grounds. I usually know when something is out-of-place in the forest, mostly because I can hear the cries of some of the creatures."

"If what you say is true, that is probably the reason you weren't able to sense anything. The centaur's are making sure this is kept quiet from the others, they don't want it to cause and uproar."

"Is it that serious?"

"Yes, so you must go at once. The easiest way would be for me to fly you there myself." And as he said this, he swooped down from his perch, and grabbed her shoulders with his talons, but not too hard where he could hurt her.

They started to fly at once, Fawkes heading into the direction of the Forbidden Forest. Ella quickly caught her barring's as this had already happened to her a few times before. Fawkes was a very straightforward kind of Phoenix, always doing what her grandfather asked of him. If he said to get her somewhere quick, Fawkes would do it, even if that meant flying her to where she needed to go. She really didn't mind, she loved to fly and was actually one of the chasers for the Gryffindor Quidditch team when she was a student.

As they were now flying over large thick tree's deep within the forest, Fawkes began to descend to the ground. Ella was a little disoriented from the flight and had to hold herself up with the help of one of the tree's next to her. As her dizziness faded, she noticed something silvery on her hand. She looked at it more closely, and as she saw what it was, her stomach churned. On her hand was Unicorn blood.

She didn't have to see the scene to know what had happened, but she looked anyways. There on the ground, was a Unicorn dead, covered in its own blood. Tears started to prickled her eyes, as she saw the sight of such a beautiful and pure creature that had obviously been killed. Standing next to the creature was Fawkes and an all too familiar face.

"Bane, what has happened here?"

"Come and see for yourself," he said, as he gestured toward the creature.

She walked closer and kneeled down to get a closer look. She gently moved her hand along the creature, almost creasing it in a loving way. By the looks of it, it was not a werewolf or any kind of creature with large nails. It had stab wounds from what looked to be a knife; this meant that it was something human. When she found what had to be the marks of human teeth, she knew what was going on.

"It seems like a human was feeding on the poor thing," Fawkes observed. "She must have gone through a lot of pain."

Ella sighed as she got up, wiping the tears off of her face. "Yes, that is my conclusion as well. Did anyone see who had done this?"

"Yes, another Unicorn was able to catch a glimpse of the fiend before she ran away in fear. From her account, she said it looked like a demon with a long black cloak. She thought it to be a dementor."

"No dementor did this. The only explanation is a human. But what sort of person would do such a thing."

"You really cannot guess?"

"Of course," she said, her eyes opening wide in fear. "It is as we both predicted. This is not good."

"Yes, it is beginning," the centaur said in an ominous tone.

"That is why you will not allow any of the other creatures around here, you don't want them to know that there is something evil lurking in the forest."

"It would not be good," he said to her. "Everything must proceed as it has been foretold. Once all the creatures here in the forest know the truth, everyone else will as well. This cannot happen."

"I understand," was all she would reply to him, mentally rolling her eyes at him. "Has anyone thought of cleaning this up? It would make it a lot less suspicious to the others."

"Of course," he bowed his head. "We were just waiting for you to examine the body beforehand."

"That was very considerate of you, but I think its best we clean this up as quickly as we can. Does anyone else know of this?"

"No, there is no one else. The Unicorn that had seen it what had happened was told that it was a dementor attack and that she should be careful not to walk alone in the forest anymore."

"Good, we should keep it that way," she said to Bane, than she looked over to Fawkes who was still there. "You can leave now Fawkes, just make sure you tell the Headmaster what we've learned here and that I might be a little late."

"I'll pass on the message," he said, before taking flight and heading back to the Headmasters office.

"I guess we best start getting to work," Ella said, as her and some of the other centaurs began the process of cleaning up the horrible sight.

It was dark outside by the time Ella made it back to the castle. She was dirty and covered in Unicorn blood, so she decided to go down to the dungeons to get cleaned up before making her way to the Great Hall. No need to scare any of the children on her first day.

It didn't take her that long to get to Severus and her courtiers, clean the dirt and blood off of her body, get a change of clothes, and head back up. As she walked through the halls, she realized that the students must have already arrived. She rushed to the doors of the Great Hall, knowing that she was going to be scolded by Severus for being late. The doors were closed when she was making her way to them, she heard the voice of the Sorting Hat singing his usual beginning of the year song. As she walked closer to the doors, she was able to make out that Filch was standing in front of the closed doors with his nasty cat in his arms. Ella couldn't stand Mrs. Norris, she had never met a creature so vile.

"Will you move out of the way, please?" she asked the man as she came up to the doors. "I need to get in."

"There is no entering the Great Hall after the doors are closed," he said standing firmly to his spot, not letting her pass.

"But I need to get into the Great Hall. It's not like I am still a student here and you can boss me around and get me in trouble. So I ask you, please move."

"I'm sure the Headmaster will agree with me that you being late is unacceptable, and that I had every right to keep you out."

"I'm sure he would, if he wasn't the reason I am late. I was looking into a serious matter for him."

"I don't care, you're not coming in."

"Filch, I asked you nicely to step away from the door. I suggest you do so at once before I have to take any unnecessary actions."

"What are you going to do, wave that little wand of yours and turn me into a frog? You'll be fired before you can blink."

Ella smiled at this and said, "I didn't say I was going to use magic on you. I was thinking more along the lines of a different method that will do the trick quite nicely."

Before Filch even knew what was happening, Ella took ahold of his right arm, making him drop his precious cat who just hissed. She turned him around pinning his arm to his back and held him there for a few minutes while he whimpered in pain. She rolled her eyes at his screams of pain, she wasn't even holding on him too hard. She finally let go of him and pushed him toward the doors. He held his hands out so he wouldn't hit the door, and he fell right through the doors opening them along the way and falling down on the floor.

The clapping of the children after the Sorting Hat finished his song stopped as they all looked to see what the commotion was. What they saw was Filch on the floor and a beautiful woman standing over him looking at him in disgust.

"Thanks for opening the door for me Filch," she said looking down at the man.

She looked up and saw that everyone was staring at her. She looked up to the High Table where the Professor's sat. She saw the shocked look upon many of their faces, the amusement that was coming from her grandfather, and the annoyed look that Severus was shooting her way. The children looked to be curious and maybe a little fascinated.

"Oops, guess I'm late," she said, shrugging her shoulders like it was no big deal. She stepped over Filch who was still on the floor whimpering, and made her way down between both the Griffindor and Slytherin tables. As she passed, all the children watched every step she was making. She made her way up to the High Table and took the empty seat that was next to Severus.

It was still quiet in the Great Hall, and it appeared that everyone was still staring at her. She looked very sheepishly with her face red as a tomato as she realized that she made such a commotion.

"Please proceed," she said.

That's when Professor Dumbledore clapped his hands to get everyone's attention back to the sorting. Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and called out the first first year up to the stool to put on the Sorting Hat. It was a girl named Hannah Abbott, she was sorted into Hufflepuff.

"Where were you," Severus whispered to Ella, irritation obviously in his voice.

"I can't tell you here," she replied back just as silent as him. "I'll explain when we go back to the dungeons."

Severus didn't say anymore after this, satisfied with her answer.

"Granger, Hermoine!" Professor McGonagall called out, and a bushy haired girl practically ran to the stool and put the hat on. Ella chuckled at the girl's enthusiasm, knowing that she would definitely be one of her favorites. She loved when children were excited about learning, because it reminded her of when she was a student at Hogwarts.

"GRIFFINDOR!" the hat shouted out, and the girl went rushing to her house table with eagerness.

"Yep, definitely one of my favorites," Ella said with a smile, while she looked that Severus was scowling at the girl.

A few more kid, and then it was Draco Malfoy's turn. He walked up to the stool like he owned the place, and before he even was allowed to put the entire hat on his head, it said, "SLYTHERIN!" He walked over to the Slytherin table with his nose up in the air and a pompousness that surrounded him.

"No surprise there," Ella said to Severus. "If he were put in any other house but Slytherin, hell would probably have frozen over."

"If you have already picked your favorite," he told her. "I guess I have picked mine."

"That's not very fair now is it," she replied. "He's your godson, of course he would be your favorite."

Ella and Severus started to argue back and forth in a quiet manner, each accusing each other of favoring students from their own house.

"Potter, Harry!" Everyone went quiet as they heard Harry's name being called, and Ella looked up with excitement in her eyes.

Harry looked really nervous; he walked up to the stool unsure of what was going to happen. He slowly put the Sorting Hat on his head, and it seemed like he had the thing on forever. Ella, unlike any of the other people in the room that didn't have elfin hearing, could hear Harry pleading not to be put in Slytherin. A few moments later, the hat said with a loud voice, "GRIFFINDOR!"

As Harry walked over to the Griffindor table, everyone in his house greeted him, all of them looking elated to be able to have the boy who lived in their house. Severus scoffed and rolled his eyes, which got him a good kick to the leg by Ella. Unlike Severus, she was happy for Harry and really excited he was in the same house his parents were in.

As the sorting was over, the Headmaster stood up and opened his arms open in an inviting way.

"Welcome," he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!"

"Thank you," he said, and then sat down.

Everyone clapped, except Ella who looked almost befuddled by her grandfather's words. She knew him for years, but she was sure she would never understand why he said or did the things he does. Sometimes she wondered if he might be mad, but knew from experience that he wasn't, he just liked to make others think he was crazy.

As Ella was eating, she took a look at all the children and saw Harry looking up at the Great Hall. As he passed through every teacher, she saw when he stopped at Severus who was staring at him with a hard look. Something looked wrong, because he quickly looked away with a pained look.

"Severus, stop looking at Harry like that," she told him quietly.

"You were right," was all he said back to her.

"Right about what?" she asked him confused.

"He does have his mother's eyes."

Ella just smiled at his words.

Throughout the rest of dinner, Ella was feeling uncomfortable, and she couldn't understand why. Every time she heard Professor Quirrell speak, she tensed up. She didn't know why, but there was something about him that she didn't like or trust. She was happy when dinner was finally over and they were able to leave.

As Severus and she made their way down to the dungeons, they were quiet the entire way down. It wasn't until they were both sitting down in the living room that Severus brought up about why she was late.

"There was a dead Unicorn in the forbidden forest, and grandfather wanted me to check it out."

"That doesn't seem like an uncommon thing. I'm sure it was just a werewolf or something like that."

"But that's the thing, it wasn't a werewolf. By what I observed, I'm sure it was human."

"Human?" he question, almost like he couldn't believe what she was telling him.

"Yes, but that's not the scary part. It looks like whoever this was, they were drinking from the Unicorn's blood."

"So that could only mean…"

"That right, Voldemort is here at Hogwarts, and he's after the Philosophers Stone."


	18. Chapter 17: Ella Has a Secret

Chapter 17: Ella Has a Secret

**Disclaimer: There is only one true owner of Harry Potter, and that is J.K. Rowling.**

**AN: Sorry I haven't been able to write lately, I just have been very busy with some family things. But I was finally able to take some time out and write again. So I hope you enjoy this chapter that is very long overdue. :D**

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Changing and Chances

Ella was sitting up in her bed, watching the sun rise outside the window that was to the right of her bed. She rubbed her eyes vigorously, almost as if she were trying to rub away the pain of tiredness she felt in them. She wasn't able to get a wink of sleep last night, too many thoughts flying through her head. But it wasn't only that that kept her up, it was the sight of the murdered Unicorn that was the real reason for her lack of rest. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the poor creature laying there helpless as it was killed and drank from. It got worse when the dark figure that was drinking the blood turned around, and there, in front of her was Voldemort, with silver blood dripping down from his mouth. Never before in her life had she had a more frightening dream than that.

She was starting to realize that her being here at Hogwarts might just be more important than what her grandfather originally planned. After all, her only job was to keep a close eye on Harry and be there for him when he needed someone the most. Also to keep Severus in check and make sure he wasn't too harsh on the boy. She was able to understand her grandfather's first request, but the second one still baffled her. Sure she knew that there was bad blood between both Severus and Harry's father James, but there was no way that he would do anything to harm Harry. Ella was sure that Severus hated Harry, just as much as he hated his father, but she felt like people forgot that Lily also has a part in Harry's life. He does have her eyes, and her kind and strong-willed personality. In fact, if it wasn't going by looks alone, Ella was sure Harry had more Lily in him than he did James.

No matter what, Ella knew that Severus would protect that boy with his life, even if it was only his love for Lily that was making him do so. But when she thought about it, she wasn't so sure if her grandfather was trying to tell her to protect Harry from Severus himself, or just his cruel mouth. It didn't matter anyway, because in both situations she felt like she would have zero power over him. Snape did what Snape wanted to do, and no one, not even her was going to stop him.

Yes, she was very glad she decided to take the job as Potions Assistant. Not only would she get to be with the people she cared about most, she could help with this little problem that was happening here at Hogwarts that is bound to turn into a big problem. That's Hogwarts for you, always the place where the good and the bad begin.

Ella sighed; feeling like it was hopeless to try to get any sleep. She looked at the clock that was on one of her bedside tables and saw that it was 5:30 in the morning, at least fifteen minutes before Severus usually gets up for the day. 'Good,' she thought to herself. 'Now I have plenty of time to get in the bathroom before he does.' She got out of her bed, went to her closet to grab the clothing she planned on wearing that day, and walked out of her bedroom to the bathroom that was across from her room. She was really hoping that a nice cool bath would wake her up enough to at least not make her look like she would rather be taking a nap instead of doing her job. Although it did work a little, it didn't work enough to wake her up entirely. So she just cut her bath sort feeling extremely frustrated with the way she was feeling, and decided maybe she would take a Pepper Up potion instead.

Leaving the bathroom ready for the long day of classes, she was not expecting at all what happened next. Suddenly, out of nowhere, an exotic bird that she was familiar with appeared in the living room with a letter in its beak. The look of surprise was written all over her face, you could clearly tell that she was shocked to see this bird as it flew over to her and dropped the letter into her hands.

"Howl, what's going on?" she questioned him. "Is everything okay with Anne? Is she hurt or something?"

"_I am not sure what is wrong," _he replied_. "I was only told to bring you that letter_."

"Are you sure?"

"_Yes, I am one hundred percent sure. I never get anything wrong_."

"Alright than Howl, thank you very much for bring me this letter. If you wish it, you can return to your Mistress and tell her you have successfully given me the letter."

"_If you wish, madam_," was all he said, and then disappeared out of thin air once again.

"_Who was that_?" question Shadow, jealousy dripping from every word he spoke. You could still see the glare that was in his eyes as he looked upon the beautiful colors of the bird that had just left.

"That was Anne's bird," Ella involuntarily told him, not even thinking about what she was saying; too busy looking down at the letter in her hands that was addressed to her. "You should remember her from the few times I asked you to take her a letter. The bird was a resent gift from her father, so that's one of the reasons why you have probably never seen him before."

Shadow scoffed and said, "_Thinks a little too highly of himself if you ask me_."

Ella just ignored his comment and finally opened her letter, a little too hesitantly, almost as if she thought a spider or a snake was going to come out of it. With shaky hands she read what it said.

_Dear Ella,_

_ I'm sorry I wasn't able to write you sooner and congratulate you on your new job as Potion's Assistant at Hogwarts, you must be so excited. I know how dedicated you are to the practice of brewing, and wish you the best._

_ I am doing just fine here in University, getting along as best I can without my best friend here with me. You do not know how much I have missed you, especially are enlightening conversations over tea at the small café a few blocks away from University. I went there a couple of days ago, but it didn't feel the same without you._

_ Other than that, I have been well, and so is Charles. He too wishes you the best, and we both hope to see you soon._

_ Well, I'm sure you are very busy and need to get ready for classes._

_ With all my love,_

_ Your best friend Anne_

_ P.S: We really need to see each other soon._

That endnote was all it took for Ella's heart to race and for her to realize that her fear had come true, and that Anne must be in trouble. If it wasn't something serious, she wouldn't even have sent a letter. Whatever was going on, it had her good for nothing boyfriend Charles written all over it. Without even a second thought, she set the letter down on the coffee table and ran to go find some parchment and ink with a quill. Quickly she wrote down a few lines, her usual neat handwriting a mess.

"Shadow," she called her trusted familiar. And like always, he flew to her at once with the call of his name. "I need you to give this to Severus for me. It's a note to why I am leaving. Do you think you can do that for me?"

"_Of course I can_," he said, puffing out his chest to prove his liability. "_Any task you give to me Mistress, I will do._"

"Thanks, Shadow," she said handing him the letter, and giving him a quick pet on the head. Hurrying over to the fireplace and throwing in some floo powder, but said one more thing to Shadow before she left. "Oh, Shadow. Don't worry about Howl. You are a much more to my liking than some fancy looking bird."

Ella chuckled at how much more her familiar stuck out his chest in pride, and with a few quick words, was gone.

It was only two minutes after Ella left from the floo that Severus came out of his bedroom dressed in his usual teaching robes and his infamous scowl on his face. The first day of school was one of Severus's least favorite times during the school year, because that just meant that there was another school year. Teaching dunderhead children that had no respect for the art of brewing was not his first choice of employment, but he had no other choice. There was no way that anyone else would hire him because he was once a servant to one of the most hated and dangerous wizards of all time, Voldemort. He was in debt to Dumbledore for not only giving him a job as a teacher here at Hogwarts, but also for trusting him and giving him a chance at a better life than he had while he was a death eater. He still didn't understand what made the old man search for him and ask him to join the Order of the Phoenix as a spy.

Before he could make another move, Shadow flew up to him and started to hassle him until he took the note that was inside his beak. Severus, who was already irritated, took the note and shooed the bird away. He decided to read it after he had his breakfast and coffee, too occupied with other things to care what the note said. He figured it was probably from Dumbledore or something like that.

He called a house elf for his breakfast today instead of going to the Great Hall. He figured if he had to be with the dimwitted children all day, there was no point in losing the only peace he had for the moment. Well, that is until Ella finally got up, than he was sure he wouldn't get any peace at all. 'Where is Ella anyways,' he thought to himself as he sipped on his coffee that was just brought to him. 'She should be up by now.' Even though she might be a lousy morning person, he was sure she would be too excited to sleep since it was her first day. He still didn't know why she would choose to come back to Hogwarts, because if he were her, he would be out of here before he knew it. There were too many bad memories for him here. But then again, Ella seemed the kind of type to love learning and teaching all at once, so maybe Hogwarts wouldn't be so bad for her as it is for him.

After ten more minutes of relaxing, Severus decided that he best wake Ella up, or she would never get up. But as he set his coffee down, he spotted a letter on the coffee table that was opened with handwriting that looked very familiar to him. He knew it was probably a letter for Ella, and that it would be wrong for him to invade her privacy, but he couldn't help but be curious on who the writer was, and why their writing looked so recognizable to him. As he picked up the letter and read it, he was in the shock of a lifetime. It was from Anne Pierce, a Ravenclaw girl that had graduated Hogwarts two years after Ella. Not only that, but by what the letter said, they both seemed to be very close. Severus's instincts kicked in, and he knew that for some reason, it's seemed like Ella was keeping something from him.

If there was one thing that Severus was proud of, it was is excellent memory. Never once does he remember Ella and Anne even acknowledging each other presence the entire time they were here at Hogwarts together. Ella was in Griffindor and Anne in Ravenclaw, Ella was two years older and Anne two years younger, Ella loved Potions and Anne was one of the worst Potion students he had ever had. They were different, hung out with different crowds, and probably never even crossed paths. But they seemed to meet in University, and apparently are the best of friends. It wasn't their friendship that was bugging Severus, he liked that she had friends. What he found strange was that she never told him. She told him all about the friends she made in University in her letters she gave him, but it seems that she left out someone. He could only think that she did this because she has something to hide.

He finally remembered that note that Shadow had given him, and now had a hunch to what it could possibly be. He opened it and saw Ella's handwriting, but he could tell it was written in a hurry because her script was usual much more clean and elegant. It read:

_I'm really sorry Severus, but I have to go and take care of some personal business that is extremely important. I promise to tell you what you wish to know when I get back. I hope I can be back in time for the first class, but I'm not sure how long this will take._

_EM_

Severus just sighed and laid the note back down on the coffee table. This was all very confusing and also very frustrating, especially for someone like him who was a master spy, and has a habit of needing to know everything. But he guessed it could not be helped, because it looked to him like he wouldn't be getting any answers until she came back. Still, something in the back of his mind told him that there was a lot more to all of this than some friend needing help.

He didn't get to think more about it because at that moment, without even bothering to even warn him that he was coming, Dumbledore walked out of the fireplace.

"Ah, Severus my boy, you ready for the new school year," the Headmaster said in a cheerful voice, which was not unusual for him.

"I'm ready, but not happy about it," he said in a grumbling tone.

"Don't be that way," Dumbledore said trying to lighten his mood, or possibly making it worse. "To be a teacher is a wonderful thing. You are instilling the knowledge you know into the minds of the next generation."

"The more I teach," Severus replied. "The more I realize that every year these children just seem to get dumber and dumber."

Dumbledore exhaled in a defeated sort of way, knowing that no matter how hard he tried, he was never able to get Severus to be more optimistic about the students success here at Hogwarts. After all, all of them have their own special talents, and just because they're not good in something, doesn't mean they aren't good in anything. But it was a lost cause, because Severus would think how he liked.

"What are you doing here exactly?" Severus questioned suspiciously.

"Oh, I just came to see Ella," he explained. "She seemed really uneasy last night, and I just wanted to check up on her and see how she was. Is she up yet?"

What was he supposed to tell him, that his granddaughter was keeping secrets from him? He just wasn't sure what the right thing was to do. Was he supposed to lie or tell the Headmaster the truth? If he told him the truth, then he was sure Ella would be mad at him and most likely not talk to him for a while. That actually happened before, and he could say he didn't like people giving him the silent treatment. Also, she could get in trouble, and that was the last thing he wanted to do. But telling the Headmaster the truth could mean finding out information that he didn't know. After all, the Headmaster had a strange way of knowing everything.

So that only meant lying to the Headmaster could more of a risk for him. Dumbledore could always find out, and not trust him anymore, which wasn't something he wanted to lose. But he didn't want to betray Ella's trust either, which was also very important to him. So he guessed it came down whose opinion he cared about most.

"She did seem uneasy last night," he said. "It's not usually like her to let something like that affect her. But I can't blame her really. The thought of Voldemort makes a lot of people uncomfortable, especially if you know he is hiding somewhere nearby, but you don't know exactly where."

"That is true. She probably is shook up by all the excitement of yesterday."

"Yeah, I checked on her ten minutes ago, and she seemed to be looking really tired. It's best she get as much sleep as she can. I'm actually thinking about making a potion to help her sleep through the night."

"I'm sure she would appreciate that," he said with a small twinkle in his eye, which made Severus almost believe that he knew that he was lying to him. "Well, I guess I will just see how she is doing later. Please tell her for me that I stopped by."

"Yes, I will do that."

As the Headmaster left, Severus sighed in relief that he didn't catch on to him, or at least if he did, he didn't say anything. 'You owe me, Ella,' was all Severus thought as he started getting his things ready for his first class of the day, which was in forty minutes.

While he prepared, a few things came to mind. The first one was he was sure that she was hiding her friendship with Anne for a certain reason. The second was, Anne must be someone very important for her to up and leave like that in a hurry.

Yes, something suspicious was defiantly going on, and he was going to find out what it was.

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**I know this isn't exactly long, but I need to go to bed, so I am ending the chapter at this. I have been so distracted lately, it's been really hard for me to write. My brother and I have been hanging out a lot, and so we have been watching a lot of anime, which makes me want to write all these new different things. But I'm more like the kind of writer to stick to one thing at a time, so I will be trying to write more chapters. I promise I will get writing the next chapter tomorrow.**

**Funny story I would like to share. When I started getting inspired again to write this chapter, which has been in my head for a long time trying to think up what Ella's secret could be, my cat scratched me in the eyeball and I couldn't see for some time. I think it was just a few days. But that was enough to make me completely forget what I was going to write down. Love my cat, but she can be really annoying sometimes. But thank God my eye is fine.**


	19. Chapter 18: Ella and the Potion Master

Chapter 18: Ella and the Potion Master

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series, all rights belong to J.K. Rowling.**

**AN: I knew I would be writing again soon, even though it took me a while. I'm glad I was able to get this out as soon as possible, or I will get out of the groove of writing. I wanted to put this chapter together with the other, but I found that I didn't have the time. Oh well, I figure it was best to have the last one on its own anyways, because I wanted to highlight that one as something important and significant within my story. I hope you like this chapter, because it was definitely one of my favorite chapters in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. :D**

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Changing and Chances: Book 1

Ella rushed into Hogwarts Castle, hurrying to make it down to the dungeons where Severus was undoubtedly teaching his seventh year NEWTS class, or at least that's what it said on the schedule that Severus had given her. She could not believe how late it was, she was not expected it to take so long with Anne, but what was done was done, and for a good reason too. When she showed up at the University this morning, she was aware of what kind of state she would find Anne in, but she was not anticipating it to be that bad. She knew that Charles Rosier was not the kind of person you would want to be messing with; after all, he came from a long line of Pure-blood Wizards who believed in the Pure-blood way. She warned Anne many times to break up with him, and that he was no good for her, especially after the first time he hurt her. But like all women who thought they were in love, she stayed with him.

Seeing her dear friend in the state that she was in when she saw her this morning, so frightened and scared for her life, the anger arose in her, and what happened next was not something anyone would want to see. She knew it was wrong to do, and that she could get in trouble, but he needed a taste of his own medicine. Of course after she was done beating him to a pulp, she did the right thing and contacted the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Why it took so long as it did was because they were curious on how he got in the state that he was. Ella, being the truthful person she was, told them exactly what happened. She was tired of him hurting and beating up on her friend, and decided that enough was enough. She could have gotten in trouble, but since she didn't use any magic on him, and they later found out that he had used the Cruciatus Curse on Anne, they hauled him away from questioning instead of her.

Ella had never felt so relieved in her entire life. She was proud of Anne for finally realizing that Charles was just a no good bully that didn't deserve someone as great as her. She didn't leave Anne until she was sure she was going to be alright, knowing how much shock the poor girl was probably in. Ella wasn't sure the last time her friend looked almost happy, like she was released from a curse. Now she could get on with her life, and achieve all the things she wanted.

It wasn't until she left the University, that Ella took notice of how late it really was, and that if she didn't make it back soon, she would miss an entire day of classes. And that's how she got where she was now, bolting straight to where she was supposed to be in the first place; the potions class. In record time, she made it to the door and opened it with a loud bang. Everyone in the class stopped what they were doing to see what the loud noise was. They saw Ella standing in the door way of the classroom panting and trying to catch her breath. They were all interested in knowing why the Potions Assistant was so late to class. A lot of them were glad not to be her, they could just imagine how furious Snape would be, and she was most likely about to get fired for sure.

"I see that someone decided to finally join us," Professor Snape said in his best strict teaching voice. "Class, keep to your assignment while I have a quick chat with my Assistant."

Everyone put their heads down and got back to taking the notes that Professor Snape wrote up on the black board. They all knew what was coming; they were for sure never going to see Miss Morgan ever again, because today would be her first day and her last. No one was ever late to Potions are you would receive a detention, and in Miss Morgan's case, a pink slip. Everyone held their breath as Snape walked passed them all the way to the door and stood right in front of Miss Morgan, giving her his usual 'I'm not happy' glare.

"If I hear one single sound coming from this room, you will all be receiving detentions. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Sir," the all repeated in a hurry, not wanting to get on his bad side. He just nodded in satisfaction at their replies.

"Come with me Miss Morgan," he said as he waited for her to walk out of the room before he closed the door.

They were now both standing in a barren hallway, and not a sound could be heard. It made Ella feel really uneasy, not liking the look that Severus was giving her. Severus paid no mind to what was going on around him, he had his mind on only one thing, and that was to get the information he wanted out of Ella.

"So," he began. "What might be your excuse for being so late to class, hm. And if you please, I would like to hear the truth, and not some vague answers like that stupid note of yours."

"I am sorry," she said, putting her head down in defeat, not sure how she should go about telling him this. There were just some things that she would like to keep to herself for the moment.

"That's not an excuse," he replied to her apology. "You already apologized in your note, and it has already been accepted. All I would like to know is why."

"I was helping out a friend who was in a dire situation."

"You mean Anne Pierce."

"How did you…my letter."

"Yes, you set it down on the table and I saw Anne's familiar writing. Now, are you going to tell me what happened, and also why you have been keeping your friendship with Anne such a secret?"

"I haven't been keeping it a secret!" she argued.

"Then why is it that I knew the names of all of your other friends at University, except hers. Don't you lie to me?"

"The truth is I didn't want anyone to find out that Anne and I were close. It wouldn't be good for either of us, and would probably cause a lot of trouble."

"Why is that?"

"I can't say right now. But I do promise you, I will tell you the truth as soon as I know it will be safe doing so."

Severus didn't understand what was going on, but he knew that whatever it was, it was a very important matter. He agreed that until she felt like telling him, he would not ask her anything else about it.

"Alright, I understand that," he said. "But what I would like to know is what was so serious that you had to leave on your first day as my Assistant to go and help out your friend."

"I'm sure you will understand when I tell you," she said, bowing her head down, not wanting to see the look of understanding in his eyes when she told him the truth. "You see, Anne has been with a certain someone since she began at University a couple of years ago. He's not the nicest Wizard you could be around, and in fact, he comes from a long family line of Pure-Blood Wizards. Charles Rosier is his name, and I'm sure you can guess who he is; after all, he was one of your students."

"Yes, I know Charles. And I can guess where this is going."

"I have never seen someone so scared and frightened as I looked upon her face this morning. Her body was trembling, and it wasn't just from fear."

"He used the Cruciatus Curse on her," he said in a voice with disgust.

"Yes."

"So, what did you do?"

"I did what anyone would have done if they saw such a sight," she said, still with anger laced in her voice. "I beat him until he was bloody, then I contacted the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. There investigating him right now as we speak."

"Since you're here right now, I'm guessing you didn't get in trouble for injuring Charles."

"I told them about what happened, but they seemed to be more adamant about if I had used magic to hurt him. I don't know if they took me for someone stupid, but no one in their right mind would use magic to harm someone and then contact the Ministry. It's almost laughable really."

Severus smirked at her comment, and gave her a good look over, making sure she was not hurt. He saw that her knuckles were bloody and scrapped up, obviously from hitting Charles so many times. Ella was genuinely shocked when he took hold of both her hands and started to look at them closely. His touch was very soft and gentle, like he was trying to be careful not to hurt her.

"Let's go get these wounds cleaned then healed," he said to her softly. "I have something in my private stores that will do the trick."

And that was that, and nothing else needed to be said between the two.

Later on that night, Severus went over everything with Ella. What he wanted her to do, what was going to be expected of her as his Assistant, and what kind authority she had over his class? It was all very easy to remember, and it didn't take long for her to learn the do's and don'ts of being Severus's Assistant. It was all done so quickly, that she was actually able for the first time in a long time to sit down, relax and read a book. But it wasn't before long her lack of rest the night before caught up to her, and she started to feel like she was going to fall asleep.

"You're tired," Severus told her while he went over his lessons for tomorrow's class. "You should go and get some sleep."

"I'm fine," she said, lying right through her teeth. "I can stay up for a little while longer."

"We both know that you are tired, especially since you didn't sleep at all last night."

"What makes you say that?"

"One of the things why I like staying down here in the dungeons is because they are really quiet. I could easily hear you tossing and turning all night long. Which I'm not surprised about, after what you saw in the forest the night before. Also, being one of the first to find out that Voldemort has returned, and he is hiding somewhere here at Hogwarts."

"I guess it all just took a toll on me. Now with what happened today with Anne, I don't know how I'm going to get any sleep."

All this talk about her not sleeping reminded Severus about how the Headmaster dropped by that morning to check up on Ella.

"Your grandfather came to see if you were feeling alright this morning," he said, shocking Ella out of her thoughts.

"He did," she said. "Strange he didn't seem angry with me today."

"Why should he be angry with you?" questioned Severus.

"Well, you did tell him I went running off this morning without telling you where I was, didn't you."

"Actually, I told him you were sleeping."

Ella looked at Snape like he was insane. She just couldn't understand why he would cover for her and lie to her grandfather, the greatest Wizard Albus Dumbledore.

"Why did you do that?" she said to him in an angry tone. "If he caught you lying to him, who knows what that old coot would have done to you, especially since it had something to do with me. Not only that, he wouldn't trust you anymore. Isn't having my grandfather's trust important to you."

"Yes, it is," he said calmly. "But you must realize that I value your trust much more than I value his."

"That's crazy," she said baffled by his words, not able to understand what he was trying to get at. "He is Albus Dumbledore, greatest Wizard of our time, I'm sure that anyone would want his trust over anyone else's."

"Well I'm not everyone else, am I. Besides, you are much more important to me than your grandfather."

As Ella heard his words, she felt a warm glow spread through her. She was sure she had never such a feeling in her entire life.

"Here," he said, taking out something from one of his pockets and setting it down on the coffee table. "This is for you."

She picked it up and saw that it was a sleeping draught. She couldn't help the smile that spread across her face. Ella got up from the couch she was sitting at, and went over to Severus and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you," she said, and then walked to her room to get the much needed rest she had been wanting.

Severus just sat there in complete shock. Never before had anyone even dared attempt getting anywhere near him. He felt something he had never felt before, he wasn't sure what it was, but all he could describe it as was a warm glow spreading through his body.

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It was now Friday, the end of the week, which Ella was very thankful for. She was sure she had never felt so exhausted in her life. The students were a real handful; she was starting to respect each and every one of the Professor's that had to deal with them, especially Severus who was a lot less tolerant than the other Professors. She wasn't even a Professor at Hogwarts and the children were already running her down. She was so tired, that she fell asleep on the break that Severus had given her, and now she was late for the last class of the day. This class was the most important too, because it was Harry's first Potion lesson.

Like the first day, she rushed back into the castle from the lake where she was resting, and headed right to the stairs that would take her down to the dungeons. She was in such a hurry that she almost fell down a few times, which wouldn't have been good for her since she left her wand in the Potion classroom. But she was able to make it down safely, and straight towards the closed door that led into the Potions classroom. She stood by the door for a few minutes, listening in to what was going on inside. It seemed like he was done giving his speech, but she wasn't sure because she could still hear the sound of his strict tone he usually saved for the first years. She was sure she heard him say Potter a few times, which meant that it was best she got in there quickly before anything got to serious. Again, like last time, she barged into the door making every first year student jumped in fright and turned their heads to see who made such a loud noise. Ella could see fear in some of the young student's faces, and saw Severus standing a little bit too close to where Harry was sitting.

"Aw, I missed your speech didn't I," Ella said as she closed the door and turned around to look at everyone staring at her. "What's with the faces, I'm not that late am I."

"I see you have decided to join us Miss Morgan," Severus said in a nasty tone, which just showed Ella how bad of a mood he was in. Maybe it wasn't such a good day to be late.

"I know, I know," she said in a casual and laidback tone. Laughing inside as she knew that her easy way of talking to him would just make him angry. "I fell asleep next to the lake. It won't happen again."

"I hope it won't," he said, narrowing his eyes at her. She just brushed off what he said, and went to sit down at the desk that Severus had transfigured for her. It was a very nice mahogany wood, and had plenty of room for her to brew potions to demonstrate for the children, one of the things he had assigned her to do for him.

"Now, where was I before I was rudely interrupted," while he said this, he looked in the direction of where Ella was sitting. She just shrugged her shoulders at him, and gave him an 'Oh well' kind of look. He growled in anger at her obvious incompetence, and went back to glare at Harry. "Ah, yes. Potter! Where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

Ella paid close attention to what was going on, ready to step in if things got carried away. She became amused when she saw that when Severus was done asking his question, the girl who she was sure was named Hermione Granger, raised her hand up in the air as high as it would go. But it looked as if Severus was just going to ignore her. By the look on Harry's face, he had no idea of what the question could be. She heard of few of the Slytherin's trying not to laugh, but doing a terrible job of it. Of course like always, Severus said nothing about their bad behavior.

"I don't know, sir," is all that Harry said.

"Thought you wouldn't open a book before coming, eh, Potter?"

Harry kept looking right into Snape's eyes, even though they were cold and full of hate for him, which earned him some respect from Ella. Most kids by now would have caved in and started crying. Ella wasn't sure what Severus was trying to prove, but in her opinion, it was kind of childish of him. Trying to humiliate Harry to get back at James was low, even for him.

Hermione still had her hand up, which reminded Ella of herself when she first started school. Snape of course just kept ignoring her.

"What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

Now Hermione was standing up in her seat, a look of eagerness on her face.

"I don't know," Harry said. "But I think Hermione does. Maybe you should ask her?"

Ella went pale in the face when she heard those words come out of Harry's mouth. What was the boy trying to do, get himself a detention already before the school year even barely started? Some of the kids were laughing, and this seemed to make Severus even more upset. She knew that it was best for her to intervene, or she wasn't sure what could happen. She could imagine Snape giving the whole first year Griffindor's detention.

"Miss Granger, please sit down," Ella said in a strict tone as she sat up from her desk. The girl did as she was told, a small blush on her cheeks for being yelled at by someone who had authority. "Mr. Potter, it is not good to back talk your teachers. Ten points for Griffindor, and as for you Slytherins who are laughing over there, ten points for you as well."

Everyone, including Severus, seemed to be shocked by Ella's display.

"Who gave you the authority to do that?" Severus said angrily.

"Professor Dumbledore and you, sir," she replied to his question swiftly. "I did not like what I was seeing, and saw that you were losing your temper. I didn't want your judgment to be clouded by anger."

"Well," he said with a glint in his eyes that Ella had never seen there before as he looked at her. "Since you think you are so smart, why don't you answer the three questions that Mr. Potter stupidly could not reply to?"

"Sure," she said shrugging her shoulders like it was no problem, which it really was for her. "A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite. The third question I did not hear, so I can't answer that, but maybe you could Mr. Malfoy."

"Sure I can," he said in a snooty voice. "Asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion that is called the Draught of the Living Death."

"Very good Mr. Malfoy," Ella said, nodding her head at the boy. "Ten points for Slytherin."

Malfoy looked over at Harry with a smirk on his face.

"There is one thing that I would like to get clear," Ella said. "If that is alright with you, of course, Professor Snape?"

Severus nodded her way.

"I would like to tell all of you, that I do not play favorites," she looked at each and every one of them sharply. "Unlike Professor Snape here." She winked at him with a smirk on her face. "I may have been in Griffindor when I was a student here at Hogwarts, but I am not a student anymore. There is no reason for me to treat each and every house the same. I believe that no house is greater than the other, but that you are all unique in your own way, and all have the strengths in certain areas. Try to remember that."

Ella went and sat down back at her desk.

"Are you finished?" Professor Snape asked her, still with that look in his eyes.

"Yes, you may begin the class," she said. "Sorry I had interrupted it like that."

Everything went back to normal from there. Severus wrote down instructions on the black board for a simple potion that cured boils, and Ella brewed the potion as well. Professor Snape went around the room and watched the first years as they brewed their first potion. He would comment once in a while for the children to look and see how elegantly Ella was brewing her potion, and to follow her example.

The class was going fine, until one of the first year Griffindor's whose name was Neville Longbottom, decided it was a good idea to go and blow up his cauldron. The potion splattered all over the boy, making large painful looking boils to sprout all over his arms and legs.

"Idiot!" Severus screamed, as he cleared away the mess with his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"

Neville just whimpered as boils started to pop up on his face now.

"Take him to the hospital wing," Snape spat at one of the Griffindor boys. Then he went straight for Harry and Ron who were working next to Neville.

"Potter, why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought that he would make you look better if he got it wrong? Well that's more points that you just lost for Griffindor."

Ella decided that she pushed his limits for the day, and thought it best to just keep quiet. Besides, she didn't want to be looked upon as a hypocrite right after she just said she doesn't favor anyone. So instead, she bottled her potion and displayed it in front of her desk for the children to see how it was really supposed to look.

She looked over at Harry and saw how upset he was. She saw that he was about to say something, but prayed that he didn't. Luckily Ron stopped him from saying anything, and they both went back to finishing their potion.

After class, Ella stayed behind to help Severus grade some of the homework that was passed in today by some of the other classes who had Potions twice that week. It wasn't a lot, but if they both graded the papers, it would get done quicker.

"Tell me," Severus said after all long silence between the both of them. "What was the true reason why your grandfather wanted you here?"

Ella just sighed, not wanting to say anything, but remembered how Severus valued her trust over anyone else's. So she guessed it was only fair that she showed him that she wanted his trust as well.

"He wanted me to keep an eye on Harry," she said. "To get close to him and gain his trust. Also, he wanted me to make sure to regulate the tension between Harry and you."

"I thought as much," he said.

"I must say though," she said as she put down her quill and looked at him. "I don't think you hate Harry, and I'm sure you would never hurt him. It is only the face you see when you look at him that you hate. If you looked closely though, you would see he has much more of Lily in him than you would think. That is what I believe is holding you back from really hating him."

Severus didn't confirm or deny this. He just kept silent and graded the papers.

"If you want to know what I think," she said. "I think the way that you were trying to humiliate and embarrass Harry, was very childish of you. I haven't ever seen a grown make act in such a way in a long time. It was very disgraceful."

"How would you like me to act than, huh," he spoke to Ella in a snarky way. "Since you know everything."

"I wasn't saying that I know everything," she was now starting to get mad at his attitude. "I was just trying to say that you need to realize that this isn't James and you in school anymore. Harry is your student, and as his teacher, you should act with more discretion."

Severus seemed to think about what she was saying, and how it had some bit of truth to it. He might not be able to promise not to act in such a way, but he could at least try not to.

"I guess you are right," he said, even though he couldn't stand saying those words. "I will try to be more discrete when it comes to my dislike for the boy."

It was silent again until Ella said one more thing.

"There is one thing I learned today though," she told him.

"What is that?"

"That Draco is nothing like his father. And if he had a different upbringing, he could have been someone that I could see myself getting along with. Hm, I think I will be keeping a close eye on that boy."

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**Yeah, I'm done. That was so much fun writing. Like I said before, this is my absolute favorite chapters in the first Harry Potter book. I'm not sure when I will be getting the next chapter done because there is a possibility of me being busy for a while. I am turning twenty-one on the twenty-sixth and I might possibly be busy, not sure yet. But I will try to get a chapter up this following week. Not sure yet how the next chapter will go. I guess we will have to see. :D**


	20. Chapter 19: Caught! Detention with Ella

Chapter 19: Caught! Detention with Ella

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, all rights belong to J.K. Rowling.**

**AN: Sorry I have not been able to write in a while, to tell you the truth, I planned on finishing this last year so I could start on book 2 of the story. I unfortunately found myself in a rut that I couldn't seem to get myself out of, hence the reason why I wasn't able to finish. But since it is a new year, I'm hoping to change that and finally finish book 1. I really hope you enjoy this chapter, and hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year. :-)**

Changing and Chances Book 1

It was early in the day and Severus and Ella were in the potions lab brewing; it was quiet between the two of them, and very tense. Something wasn't quite right about this picture. Usually when they were working together in the lab they would always have some form of a conversation, but right now it looked like the potions lab was the last place Ella wanted to be at the moment, this being odd because there was nothing more Ella enjoyed doing then brewing potions. It was plain to see that something must have happened between the two of them, but what? But, for us to find out, we must go back three weeks from now, back to the day the first year Gryffindors and Slytherins had their first potion lesson.

It was around 5:30 in the evening and Ella was starting to get hungry. Severus had asked her a few hours ago if she would finish some potions for him that the hospital wing was in dire need of, which was not surprising because the students were always getting sick, so the potion stocks had to be constantly filled. Severus was unfortunately busy grading his seventh year students essay's that they had handed in a few days ago. He usually got them graded the same day as the students handed them in, but he had been busy making potions for St. Mungo's thanks to some kind of virus that was going around. Being the great Assistant she was, Ella first offered to grade the papers, knowing that Severus would much rather make the potions, but he told her it was better that he did it instead. She knew that he only said that because he thought she was much to kind in her grading.

It was just about time for dinner when Ella finished the potions and sent them to Madame Pomfrey and made her way up out of the dungeons and to the Great Hall. It was as she was coming out of the dungeons that she spotted both Harry and Ron coming back from Hagrid's, or at least that's where she guessed they came from if their pockets full of rock cakes were any indication. They were both quietly conversing together, talking to each other in low whispers like they were trying to keep whatever they were saying a secret. Ella being the nosey person she was, couldn't help but find out what it was they were speaking about to each other. So very quietly, she snuck up behind them so she could hear what the two were saying.

"You can't Harry," she heard Ron say. "You'll get in trouble. And even if she knew, what makes you think she will tell you."

"It's worth a try," Harry replied back. "Besides, the worst that will happen is she will tell me to keep my nose out of things that don't concern me."

"Even so, I'm telling you right now, it is not a good idea to ask Ella…"

"Ask me what?" Ella asked as she interrupted what Ron was going to say.

Both the boys jumped with fright as they heard the person they were talking about behind them, not at all expecting her to be there. They both turned around with guilty looks on their faces. Ella just looked at them suspiciously, wonder what it was the two of them were up to.

Harry was about to reply to her answer, when Ron cut in and replied with, "Oh, nothing. It's just something about Hagrid."

"What about Hagrid?" Ella asked, not buying that they really were talking about Hagrid, because if they were, why were they so jumpy.

"Uh, about his rock cakes," he said, taking a few minutes to reply back, almost like he had to think about it.

"His rock cakes?" she looked at him quizzically. 'Oh yeah, they are definitely up to something,' she thought.

"We were just wondering where the best place to dispose of them was," he said, as he brought out a handful of the cakes from his pocket. "We didn't want to hurt his feelings when he offered them, and Harry thought we might ask you where we could throw them out without someone finding them and eating them. I don't think it would be safe for anyone to ingest them."

In all her life, Ella had heard a lot of excuses, but none as so blatantly obvious as Ron's. It wasn't hard to tell that he was trying to cover up whatever it was Harry and him where really talking about. So Ella just sighed and decided to go along with it.

"He's still making those ghastly things," she said, scrunching her nose up at the sight of the rock cakes. "I told him a long time ago that they were inedible and he should try and learn a new recipe, either that or they would break some poor student's teeth. I guess he didn't take my advice, or he did but he didn't change them that much. You can dispose of them outside in one of the gardens. Apparently, it acts as a type of compost."

Both Harry and Ron blanched when they heard that, and Ella just laughed at their disgusted faces.

"Come on the two of you," she chuckling as she turned around. "We best be getting to the Great Hall for dinner."

"Wait!" Harry said, stopping Ella in her tracks and making her turn back to look at him. "I wanted to ask you something."

"Harry," Ron said, elbowing him and giving him a look that said to be quiet.

Harry just ignored Ron and went on with what he was about to say, "Do you know anything about the break in at Gringotts."

Ella was confused; she had no idea what Harry was talking about. A break in at Gringotts; that was the most absurd thing she had ever heard. Who in their right minds would try to break into the well secured wizarding bank? Obviously it was someone that was completely mad.

"Where did you hear that?" she asked him, not quiet believing what he was telling her.

"From the Daily Prophet," he replied. "I saw a copy at Hagrid's and read what it said. I'm pretty sure it was the vault that we had visited that day at Gringotts, the one you told me not to ask about. Not just that, but the break in happened on the same day that we were in Diagon Alley."

Could this be possible; if it was, she sure wouldn't be the first to know about it. She never read the Daily Prophet, that's why she would ask Severus if there was any important news that she should know about, since he read the paper every morning. She did the same thing today, asking him if there was anything new or interesting going on. Did he lie to her when he said there was nothing that she would find intriguing? He wouldn't lie to her, would he? And if he did, what reason did he have to not tell her about something as important as the vault that the Sorcerer Stone was in was broken into.

"Hmm," was all she said, the wheels turning in her head. Severus must have been lying to her; there was no other way to explain it. Either that or this whole thing was just some big misunderstanding. Whatever it was, she was going to get to the bottom of it. But for now, she needed to deter Harry's curiosity away from the vault before he finds out something he shouldn't.

"There is no reason for the two of you to worry about any of this," she told them, looking at Harry especially. "The Headmaster is taking care of it. He knows what he is doing." But there was some part of her that wasn't so sure about that.

"I want the both of you to forget about this. So let's pretend like you didn't ask me anything."

Both of the boy's nodded their heads and she led them inside the Great Hall for dinner.

Ella took her seat in a daze, her mind somewhere else completely. Severus like always greeted her with a nod, but was in complete shock when Ella did the same and returned his nod. Severus was instantly on alert. He didn't know Ella for year's not to know when something was bothering her. The nod she returned back to him in greeting was all he needed to know that she was troubled by something. She always complained about his impersonal greetings, and she hated it when he would nod at her instead of just saying a simple hello. So why was she now greeting him with the same 'nod' that normally got on her nerves? He was becoming unnerved by the distant look on her face, and how she barely touched any of the food that she had just put on her plate. He knew he was going to have to ask her what was wrong, but he wasn't so sure how to bring it up without causing her anymore unease.

For Ella, her thoughts were somewhere completely different from Severus's. No matter how hard she tried to make some kind of excuse for why Severus would lie to her, she couldn't come up with anything that was remotely plausible. Ever since she was a young girl she believed everything that he ever told her, he never once gave her a reason why she should not believe him. She had a trust in him that she didn't have for many people. After all, he was her hero, the person that saved her from falling into the hands of Voldemort. He would never hurt her, or at least she knew he wouldn't on purpose.

She guessed she had no other choice; she was just going to have to confront him. She figured it was better to ask once they were back in the dungeons after dinner; there was no reason to make a scene in front of the whole school.

The rest of dinner was quiet between the two of them, which was not like them at all and caught some of the Professor's attention, especially Professor McGonagall. Ella was the only person that Severus remotely showed any interest in talking to, so you could understand her concern when she saw that they were not in one of their usual intense conversations about potions. Dumbledore too was confused by their quiet demeanor, but figured that the both of them would work out whatever was wrong on their own, and went back to enjoying his dinner.

It was around dessert when Severus started to get annoyed by the silence between Ella and him, and on a whim decided to ask her what was wrong.

"What is it?" he asked her with an underline of irritation in his voice. Ella was so generally shocked when she heard him speak that all she could do was stare wide-eyed and open-mouthed at him. He was never one to start up a conversation, nor was he one to ask if something was wrong.

Severus saw the astonished look on her face and just sighed and said, "I asked you a question, are you just going to sit there with your mouth agape like an idiot."

She narrowed her eyes at him for refer to her as an idiot, and determined that if he didn't mind talking about this in front of everyone else, then why should she.

"I need to ask you something," she began. "And when I'm finished asking, I want you to tell me the truth."

"Fine," he said, in a nonchalant kind of way, not at all expecting what she was going to say next.

"This evening when I asked you if there was any important news in the Daily Prophet, and you told me there wasn't; why didn't you tell me that there was a break in at Gringotts, and not only that, but in the vault that previously held the Sorcerer's Stone?"

Severus was quiet for a few minutes, thinking what the best way to approach the situation would be. He had no way of getting himself out of this one. At the time, he thought it was for the best, but now that he thought about it, maybe he should have told her. She was going to find out anyways, and now that she did, she was angry at him for lying to her.

"I thought you already knew about that," was all he could come up with as an excuse. "After all, you usually know about things before they happen."

"You knew I didn't know, because if I did, I would have talked to you about it a long time ago. What I would like to know is, did you know about this before the report in the Daily Prophet came out?"

Severus was affronted by all of her questions, and opened his mouth before he thought about what he said, which he seemed to do a lot.

"I don't see there being a problem if I did know. It is ridiculous that you are interrogating me for knowing something and not telling you. What, do I need to tell you everything?"

Ella couldn't believe what she was hearing; he was missing the whole point. It wasn't that she didn't know about the break in, it was that he blatantly lied to her. Before she was just upset, now she was furious.

"I expected something like this from the Headmaster, but not from you. Can't you understand that I am not mad at you for not telling me about what happened at Gringotts, I'm mad that you lied to me about it."

"If you see it that way," he shrugged indifferently, while inside he was kicking himself for being such an ass.

"What other way do you expect me to see it," this time she raised her voice, catching the attention of the Professor's. "You straight out lied to me this morning."

Severus saw where this was heading and understood that if he didn't defuse the situation, it would turn into a huge blow out in front of everyone.

"You clearly don't see the reason why I didn't tell you the truth," he told her, realizing that it was probably just best to explain why he kept something so important from her. "Your attitude is a hint towards that."

"I don't want to hear it," she replied, loud enough for everyone to hear. "I'm not going to stay here and be insulted by you."

"That's enough," he said now with a voice as loud as hers. "You are making a commotion."

"Well, that's your own fault. Maybe if you were more direct and told me the truth, this wouldn't have happened in the first place."

And as she said this, she got up from her seat and left the Great Hall in a huff with everyone following her with their eyes until she was out of sight. They then turned their attention to Severus who looked like he was about to curse someone right then and there. Once he saw that all eyes were on him, he gave them all a nasty glare and got up from his seat and left as well.

"That was interesting," Ron told Harry.

Harry just nodded back, too busy wondering if they were fighting because what he had told her before dinner, and if they were, why?

Ever since that day Ella and Severus have not spoken to each other, or more along the lines of Ella wouldn't speak to Severus while he tried to explain to her the truth. She wouldn't listen of course, too angry at him to even care what he had to say. Instead, she spent most of her time with Professor McGonagall.

It wasn't that she was purposely trying to be cruel to him; it was more like she didn't know how she was ever going to believe another thing he said. Of course she knew he wasn't one to lie, or at least lie to people that were important to him, but she wasn't so sure what to think or believe anymore. Deep down inside she knew that she was completely over-reacting and that she should just listen to his explanation, but she wasn't sure if she was ready to forgive him yet.

As all of this was going through her mind, Ella wasn't pay attention to what she was doing and accidently cut herself with her knife.

"Shit," she hissed out loud, and went over to one of the sinks to run her cut finger through the water. It was a good thing she was only chopping up some lavender, because if she cut herself while slicing up the Angel's Trumpet, now that would have been a disaster.

Severus looked over to see what had happened as he heard Ella shout, and saw that she had cut herself, which was not like her at all. She was always so careful when brewing a potion, but with what was going on between them lately, he was not surprised. He put down his wand after he stirred his potion the right amount of times and went over to where Ella was standing over the sink to make sure she was alright.

"Let me see," he told her as he stood next to her.

She just looked at him defiantly like a little child who didn't want to do their chores.

"I can take care of myself," she told him, this being the first time she has spoken to him in over a week. "I don't need your help."

Severus didn't listen to her and instead grabbed her arm to take a look at her hand. With one look he could see that it was a deep cut, going all the way to her bone.

"You're going to need to get something on this," he told her. "Come on, I have some Dittany that will heal this up really fast."

She took back her hand and replied with, "I know where the Dittany is, I can get it myself."

He just sighed and let her do what she wished. He watched as she went into one of his cabinet's that held many crystal phials and searched until she found what she was looking for. As she found the right phial, she opened the cork and poured a drop of the liquid onto her wound. It healed instantly and the pain must have gone away because in place of her pained expression was now relief.

It was as she was putting away the Dittany and he saw the other glass that was next to it that he realized; he has been going about getting her to listen to him completely the wrong way. He now knew that there was only one way to get her to believe what he was telling her.

Severus marched over to the cabinet that Ella was about to close, but before she was able to close it all the way; he hurried grabbed the phial that he had spotted not moments ago. He uncorked the bottle and downed the entire thing. Ella just stood there confused, looking at Severus like he had gone crazy.

"What in the world do you think you are doing?" she asked him. "Have you gone completely mad? You can't just go grabbing potions like that and drinking them, what if it was poison."

"That's really insulting of you to say," he told her, handing her the phial so that she could read the label. "I'm a potions master Ella, if you have forgotten. I would never swallow anything without knowing what it was first."

"Veritaserum," she read. "Why would you need that?"

"So that when you ask me what you wish to know, you will be sure that I am telling you the truth."

Ella just shook her head and said, "I can't believe you just drank a whole bottle of Veritaserum for that."

"I figured it was the only way you were ever going to listen to me. So stop questioning my actions and start asking me what you wish to know."

"Fine," she said, looking at him in a calculating way. "Why didn't you hand me in to Voldemort all those years ago?"

Severus looked at her in astonishment, not at all expecting her to ask that. He was starting to realize that he didn't think this whole thing through, which was no surprise to anyone, because he never thought anything through when it involved Ella. She could ask him anything, and thanks to the potion he just drank, he was obligated to tell her. But if it worked, who cared what she asked him. He wasn't hiding anything from her that he didn't mind telling her.

"Even the cruelest person couldn't hand someone like you over to the Dark Lord," he told her, his voice full of sincerity. "You are like light opening the eyes of some of the darkest people. I only needed to look at you once to realize that if I gave someone as pure and innocent like you over to Voldemort, I would lose any ounce of humanity I had left."

She just looked at him seriously and said, "That's not true. Out of every person that I have ever met in my life, you are the most human out of all of them."

He just shook his head at her, not believing what she told him.

"Are you done asking pointless questions?" he asked her. "You should get to the main problem here before the potion wears off."

"Alright," she replied. "Have you ever lied to me?"

"Yes, I have," he said truthfully, not even struggling to hide it. "But only when I thought it was necessary."

"So you thought it wasn't necessary for me to know about the break in at Gringotts?"

"That was only because I was worried about you."

"Worried about me?" she asked him bewildered. "Why would you be worried about me?"

"I have been watching you for a while, seeing how this whole thing with the Sorcerer's Stone has been making you worn out. I thought that even if you would find out about it, you should at least have a few hours of peace."

All of a sudden, Ella busted out with laughter, not being able to contain the utter stupidity they both had shown. Her with not listening to him because she thought he was lying to her and him for lying to her from the beginning. It was all really hilarious in Ella's mind. For Severus though, he had no idea why she thought anything of what he had just said was funny in the least.

"And may I ask why you are laughing?" Severus said, not at all amused.

"Because we are the two most ridiculous people in the world," she said between her laughter. "I can't believe I didn't talk to you for three weeks because you were trying to protect me from my own self."

"Well, I see where that was ridiculous. But pray tell me, why is what I did seem laughable to you. I think it was almost noble of me."

"Noble, yes, but also very stupid."

Severus just frowned at her, but he just made her laugh even more.

"Aw, don't be that way," she said, walking over to him and hugging him. "It was very nice of you, but we could have avoided all of this fighting if you had just told me the truth, and when I asked you if you were lying, you could have been a little bit more civil about it."

"So, this is my entire fault?"

"No, it's mine as well," she said, holding onto him tighter. "I missed you, you know."

Severus just looked down at her with one of his rare smiles and held her back as well.

"Wait a minute," she said all of a sudden letting go of him. "What time is it?"

"3:19," Severus told her looking at the clock he had in his lab. "Why?"

"Because I need to get going somewhere," she said, already on her way out of the dungeons. "Will talk later, I promise."

She was already out of the potions lab before he could say anything else. Severus shook his head and got back to his potion. 'Well that wasn't so hard' he thought to himself.

In a hurry, Ella made her way to one of the windows in the castle that had a nice view of the Hogworts grounds. She was so excited that she couldn't contain herself and was bouncing up and down on the heels of her feet. Today was Harry's first flying lesson, and she knew that she couldn't miss it, especially since it was with the Slytherins, and everyone knows that when you put Gryffindors and Slytherins together, something interesting will happen.

As she looked out the window, she saw that most of the first year students were already waiting on the grounds, probably as eager as she was when she was younger to learn to fly. She can never forget her first time on a broom; it was the most exhilarating thing she had ever experienced as a child. She was so good at it, that in her second year she become a chaser for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, which she believed was her greatest achievement back then.

She watched on as all the students finally made their way to where their first flying lesson would take place. A lot of them had excited looks upon their faces, but there were a few that looked unenthusiastic. Those were the once that usually had a fear of heights, and were most likely never to get on a broom again after this lesson.

Madame Hooch eventually arrived, and Ella guessed she barked at the students to stand near a broom because they all seemed to hurry over and stand next to one. She remembered her first impression of Madame Hooch, she kind of scared her with her piercing bird like stare, and even now her stare was still unnerving. But when you got to know her, she wasn't all that bad. She actually knew quite a bit about Quidditch history, and Ella had some really great talks with her about the Irish National Quidditch team who she had always favored over any other team.

"So this is where you went to in such a hurry?" she heard from behind her. "I had a feeling you would be here."

"Now how in the world could you have guessed that," she said as she turned around and looked at Severus.

"It wasn't that hard to guess. After all, I figured you wanted to see your precious Harry fly for the first time."

"Don't be an ass, Severus. It wasn't just that."

"Oh really," he said, acting like he was genuinely shocked.

"Yeah," she replied back in a sarcastic way. "The Gryffindor's are learning to fly with your Slytherins, now I couldn't possibly miss that."

"I can't honestly say I blame you," he said in a cheeky way. "We Slytherins are quite entertaining."

"You're a bunch of sneaky bastards is what you are," she told him with a glint in her eye just like her grandfather usually had. "But you are right about that, you are entertaining."

He just laughed at her comment and stood next to her to watch the students fly for the first time. But before they even got a chance to see anything, Neville Longbottom came zooming past the window they were watching out of, scaring Ella half to death.

"Oh my god," was all she said as she tried to get her heart to stop beating so fast.

Severus just scoffed and said, "Why am I not surprised."

They watched as Neville soared high in the air, than all of a sudden slipped sideways off his broom and came slamming hard into the ground.

"The poor boy," Ella said in alarm. "What an utterly terrible thing to happen, especially on your first flying lesson."

"It really isn't astonishing that this had happened, the boy is an accident waiting to happen."

"That's not true," she told Severus in an angry tone of voice. "He's just a little uncoordinated. All he needs is some encouragement from someone."

"Why do I have the feeling that you are referring to yourself."

"Because I was," she said a little out of sorts by the way he said that. "I plan to help as me students be the best that they can be."

"You are one big charity case aren't you," he rolled his eyes and observed as Madame Hooch took Neville away to go to the hospital wing.

"What is that supposed to mean."

"Nothing," he said, too distracted by something he was seeing to care what she was saying. "Now watch what's going on."

"What do you mean?" she asked as she looked out to see what had gotten Severus attention. It looked like Draco held something in his hands that was getting the Gryffindor students riled up. "Well what do you know; one of your little Slytherins is causing some trouble. Now who would have guessed that would happen."

All of a sudden though, Draco took off on one of the brooms, and Harry went right after him. Both Draco and Harry were face to face in the air and it looked like they were arguing with each other.

"What do they think they are doing," Ella said in horror. "They could get hurt or expelled or…"

"Will you stop worrying so much," Severus said irritated. "I thought you wanted to be entertained. Well here is your entertainment."

"I think that was the worst thing I have ever heard you say," she glared at him. "When I was talking about being entertained, I wasn't talking about a bunch of students going and flying without adult supervision."

Just then, they saw Draco throw whatever was in his hand and Harry went and dived for it. Down and down he went, and Ella held in her breath because she was so sure that he was going to crash into the ground. But at the last moment he caught whatever Malfoy threw and pulled up.

"See, precious Potter is fine," Snape said in disappointment, almost like he wanted him to get hurt. "It also looks like you were wrong."

"Wrong about what exactly?"

"He is just like his father," was all Severus said, and then walked away leaving Ella there to watch as Professor McGonagall came and took Harry away.

Dinnertime was much more enjoyable Ella thought to herself since Severus and her were talking to each other again. Professor McGonagall seemed to be pleased that they had solved out their differences, getting tired of having to hear both Ella and Severus complain about each other. She was also pleased because she had finally found a Seeker for the Gryffindor team. She thought Harry Potter would make a perfect Seeker, just like his father was before him.

"I still can't believe instead of punishing the boy," Severus once again complained to Ella about Harry being made Seeker. "She rewards him by putting him on the Gryffindor quidditch team. How is the boy ever going to learn if he gets rewarded when he is misbehaving?"

"Calm down, Severus," Ella replied exasperated with the potions master. "She is Harry's Head of House, she decides if he gets punished or not. And don't be a hypocrite; you've let the Slytherins get away with things much worse than flying on a broom without any supervision."

After that reply from Ella, Severus just decided to seethe with anger in silence. Ella didn't mind because she really wanted to eat in peace.

It was while she was eating that Ella spotted Draco and his gang of muscles (Crabbe and Goyle) walking over to where Harry was sitting with Ron and start taunting him from what she saw. She really had to watch those two carefully, it looked to her like they had some kind of rivalry going on, and those kinds of things could get ugly really fast. She decided to record this encounter in her mind because she was sure that it would be important later, and went back to her dinner.

It was night when Ella's prediction that Harry and Draco's encounter at dinner would be important. Severus had left to have a talk with the Headmaster about something essential, nowadays meaning that they were talking about the Sorcerer's Stone, and left her in his office to check the potions that the students had made that day and to grade them.

She heard the door of the Severus's office open and looked up to see Draco Malfoy standing in the middle of the now opened doorway.

"Oh, sorry," he said hesitantly, probably because he was expecting Professor Snape instead. "I was looking for Professor Snape, but since he's not here, I'll just go."

"Mr. Malfoy," she called him before he could leave. "Please come in. I'm sure I can help you out with whatever it is you need."

"Well," he said, looking a little hesitant. "I just thought you should now that some students would be up out of bed tonight."

"Is that so," she replied, now starting to understand what could have possibly passed between Harry and Draco during dinner in the Great Hall. "And do you know who these students are."

"Yes," was all he said, trying to be brief. "They will be in the trophy room at midnight."

"I need to know who the students are, if you will tell me."

"It's Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, ma'am," he seemed to gain a bit more confidence now.

"You seem to know quite a bit about this. Why is that?"

"I just overheard them talking about it is all."

"Well, if you say so. Thank you for the information Mr. Malfoy."

"No problem," he said, this time with his nose in the air like he did something good, and tried to walk out of the room.

"Oh, and Mr. Malfoy," Ella said before he left.

"Yes," he had a really big smile on his face as he looked back at her.

"I'll see you in detention tomorrow," she replied with a smile of her own on her face and a glint in her eye. "You probably would get away with trying to get students in trouble with Professor Snape, but I'm not the Professor. I saw you talking to Harry during dinner, and I am sure it had to do with luring him out of the dorms at night. Remember this Mr. Malfoy; I'm not as easily fooled as some of the other Professors around here."

"I'll talk to Professor Snape about this," the boy told her confidently. "He will get me out of detention."

"Sorry, but that won't be happening. You are forgetting that I am Professor Snape's assistant, and unlike you, he has to be around me all day. Trust me when I say that the last thing he wants to do is get on my bad side. Now goodnight Mr. Malfoy and I will be seeing you tomorrow in the Potions class after dinner."

Draco just walked out of the office in a huff mad that he didn't get away with what he was trying to do, and that was to get Harry and Ron in trouble.

At midnight Ella made her way up to the trophy room just like Draco had told her, but Harry and Ron weren't anywhere to be seen. 'Maybe it was all some kind of joke,' she thought, getting even more annoyed with Draco Malfoy. But just than she saw Mrs. Norris walk by her feet and she looked to be heading in the direction of the third floor corridor. 'They wouldn't dare disobey the Headmaster orders, would they?' She could just imagine the trouble they would get into if Filch found them, and she wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

As she followed Mrs. Norris, she ran into Filch.

"What are you doing," he snarled at her.

"I am doing my rounds," she explained, which she wasn't lying about, it was her night to do rounds around the castle.

"Fine, but there is some students up out of bed, I heard them make their way up here to the third floor."

"Actually," she said. "I think that might have been Peeves. I saw him as I came up here and he was laughing about how he had fooled you again."

"Why that no good piece of…I have told the Headmaster time and time again that we need to get rid of him, but does he listen to me, no he doesn't!" Filch went running down the stairs to find Peeves just like she expected him to, giving her plenty of time to catch Harry and Ron before they get themselves into any more trouble.

She made her way over to the door where they were keeping the Sorcerer's Stone hidden when it busted open and four little first year Gryffindor's came running out with fear written all over their faces. They closed the door and locked it back up. They all sighed with relief as they escaped the big scary three headed dog.

"That was close," Ron said as he tried to catch his breath.

"Yes it was," Ella said staring down at the four pair of frightened faces as they looked up at her. "You could have been killed in there. What were you thinking when you went inside that door, didn't Professor Dumbledore strictly tell you not to go wondering on the third floor. Not only that, but what were you four thinking walking around the castle at midnight? Did you not once think that doing so would get you in trouble?"

"Where sorry ma'am," Hermione tried to apologize, thoughts of being expelled flowing through her mind.

"You four are lucky that I was able to lead Filch away or you would be in a lot more trouble then you are in right now."

"Are you going to take us to the Headmaster to be expelled," Neville said with his head held down.

"No, not today, but you four are going to be serving detention with Mr. Malfoy tomorrow with me."

"Malfoy?" Ron seemed ecstatic that Draco got into trouble too.

"Yes, but that is no concern of yours so you better wipe that smile off of your face before I contact your mother and tell her what happened here."

That seemed to do the trick, because when she mentioned his mother, Ron went completely pale in the face.

"Now hurry up before Filch come's back."

Ella led the four back to the Gryffindor common room and made sure that they went straight up to bed. But before Harry went up to his room he turned around and told Ella, "I am sorry, I…"

She interrupted him by holding up her hand and saying, "I was a young once Harry, I understand what it's like. There is no need for any apology, just make sure you think before you decided to leave the common room after curfew, not everyone will be as lenient as I have been."

Harry nodded and finally climbed the stairs to his room.

Ella sighed in exhausted and left the Gryffindor common rooms. As she made her way back to the dungeons, she busied herself with thought of what she should give them as detention tomorrow.

**Man did it take me a long time to finally finish this. I started right after New Year's, but it isn't so easy to write with my family distracting me and making it very hard to concentrate. I was not expecting this to be as long as it turned out to be, but I assumed no one would complain since I haven't written anything in so long. I really hope I can get straight to writing chapter 20 and am able to finish that much sooner than this chapter. I promise I won't going away and not write for months again, I am determined to get this done.**


	21. Chapter 20: Trolling in the Bathroom

Chapter 20: Trolling in the Bathroom

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Harry Potter, all rights belong to J.K. Rowling.

**AN: A little heads up, I completely forgot that Lucius Malfoy would probably know who Ella is because of her last name, so I decided I was going to have to change it. Her real last name hasn't changed, she is just using her mother's last name instead now. I'm not sure what it will be yet, but I will mention it in this chapter.**

Changing and Chances Book 1

The next day it was no surprise to Ella when Severus came up to her to talk about Draco Malfoy's detention. It seemed that Draco flooed his father the night before telling him about what happened, which obviously infuriated the rich and pompous man, and as soon as he found out, he contacted Severus. Ella had prepared herself to find out that Snape promised Lucius that he would get Draco out of detention with her, but it took her by surprise when she heard that it was the exact opposite of what she had thought. Severus explained to her in detail about how Mr. Malfoy was yelling and saying rude things about her, how he said she had no authority whatsoever to give his son detention and she was just some little chit that needed to learn her place. Of course Severus didn't show any outer sign of anger towards this, but she could clearly see the fire in his eyes as he repeated what Lucius had said.

His reply to Lucius's rage towards her was very simple and to the point, like he always was. Severus had told him after he was done with his rant that he had no authority over the situation, and even if he did, he would have done nothing about it. Then he had disconnected the floo and went back to relaxing in his chair next to the warm fire reading his book.

Severus told her all of this in a monotonous way, like it wasn't something to get worked up over, but Ella couldn't help but be in awe of him. He knew that there could be consequences for taking her side in front of Lucius, but he didn't even have to take a second to think about it. He truly was something else Severus Snape was. One minute he could be a complete bastard, but the next be the most caring person-at least in his own kind of way-she had ever met.

So, since his little plan failed, just like Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville; Draco made his way down to the potions classroom in the dungeons after dinner. Ella was waiting for them seated behind Professor Snape's desk reading a book that she had found on top of it. When she heard the sound of their little feet scuffing on the floor, almost like they were dragging themselves to the room, she put the book down and looked up at all five of the unhappy faces. Harry and Ron both looked like they were preparing to be bored for the rest of the night, while Neville who was standing next to them looked to be frightened. Hermione was ashamed with her long bushy hair covering her face, and lastly Draco had the most furious look that Ella had ever seen on such a young boy's face.

"Good, you're here just in time," she said coming out from behind the desk and stood in front of it. "Now, enough with the long faces; I know that this is the last place you want to be right now, but that is your own faults. Maybe next time you will think before you do something that you know you could get you in trouble."

They all just stared at her blankly, and somewhere deep down Ella knew that this wouldn't be the last time any of them would be getting into trouble.

"Harry, Ron," she called. "I want you to sit over here; I have a few things I need you to do."

They did as they were told and took seats in the right front of the class next to what looked like a big barrel of black goo.

"Inside this barrel are leaches," she told them. "They are stuck together. Now what I need you to do is carefully pull them apart and distribute about ten of them each into these little bottles. But before you put them in the bottles, you need to put them inside this colander and strain them over there in the sink."

"That's grows," Ron said, while Draco was laughing at both Harry and Ron. "I'm not touching those things."

"Ronald Weasley, you are going to do this whether you like it or not," Ella told him, staring him down with a strict glare that would probably make Severus very proud. "And if you don't stop laughing over there Mr. Malfoy, you will be helping them out."

"Do we at least get to wear gloves?" Ron asked in a winey kind of voice, while Harry just stood there and thought it was better not to say anything at all.

"Now what kind of detention would that be," she reprimanded him. "Besides, gloves aren't good for the leaches. Now don't worry, I will be putting this repellant on you two to make sure that they don't stick onto your skin. Trust me when I say once they got ahold of you, it's really had tear them off."

She brought out a container of what looked to be jelly and handed to them, "Now I want you two to lather your hands and arms in this."

They did as she asked and opened the container and lathered themselves in the jelly like substance, with maybe only a little hesitation. "Good, now get to work."

She turned her attention next to Neville who gave a loud squeaky sound when her eyes turned to him. She really felt bad for the young boy, she was sure he had nothing to do with any of this; he was probably just in the wrong place at the wrong time. She figured he had enough to deal with, so she decided she would be a little more lenient on him today.

"Don't worry Mr. Longbottom, I am not going to hurt you," she told him, making him calm down. "Do you see that large bucket behind Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley?" He nodded his head. "Inside is a random array of herbs, what I need you to do is separate them by name and put them in the right containers with their names on them. Do you think you can do that?"

"Yes ma'am," he said, and went straight to work.

"Hey, that's not fair," Ron said. "Why does he get something easy?"

"Are you questioning how I serve detention Mr. Weasley, because if you are, than I'm sure you won't care seeing me in here after dinner every weekend for two weeks. I think that is a sufficient amount of time for you to understand who is in charge around here."

Ron just shut his mouth, but instead Draco decided to comment, "I thought Professor Snape was in charge."

"Of course he's in charge," she said, not even taking a second to guess what he was up to. "I never said he wasn't. What I was trying to tell Mr. Weasley over there is that all of you are students, and I am an adult here. I maybe only Professor Snape's assistant, but I do have some authority around here.

"Now if you will be so kind Mr. Malfoy, I would like it if you wouldn't be so cheeky with me. Professor Snape is frightening when he gets angry, but I can reassure you that I can be three times as worse. So if you are done talking when you are not asked, I would like to tell you what you and Ms. Granger here will be doing for me today."

Draco didn't say anything thing else after that.

"Good," she said as she saw that no one was going to say anything else. "Now, you two will be working together for your detention, since the two of you are the best potion makers in the first year class. I need seven bottles of the boil cure potion, so if the two of you would please take a seat over there and get started I would be much appreciative."

She motion toward the front left seats and Hermione walked her way towards them to get started, but Draco didn't move an inch.

"You expect me to work with 'her'," he said. "I can't work with a…"

"That is enough Mr. Malfoy," Ella said enraged, knowing that he was going to say something he shouldn't. "If you were about to say what I think you were, I must warn you that while you are in my detention, I want you to keep comments like that to yourself. Now if you don't wish to take a seat with Ms. Granger, I'm sure we can schedule you in for detention for an entire month. You would really enjoy that, wouldn't you?"

"Fine," he said and stomped his way over to his seat and sat down next to Hermione. "What are you going to do ma'am while we do your dirty work?"

"First off, I want all of you to stop calling me ma'am, I am either Ms. Alder or just Ella," she said. "And for your question, I am going to sit here and read this book."

"That's sound like so much fun," Draco said sarcastically under his breath not at all expecting Ella to hear what he said.

"Actually, it is a lot of fun. Now I suggest all of you get to work. The sooner you are done, the faster you can leave."

They all seemed to be encouraged by her words and started to get working. Ella just went back to reading the book she found on Severus's desk, not at all expecting him to have such good taste in novels.

It was twenty minutes later when Severus walked through the door of the potions classroom. As he passed by Neville, the boy gave a loud shout of fright. Snape stopped and glared at him making Neville whimper like a hurt puppy.

"Don't scare the student's Severus," Ella said with her head still behind the large book. "They get enough of that from you when you're teaching them, give them a break."

Severus just smirked knowing the effect he had on almost all of his students, that is except one student. It seemed Ella had never been frightened of him, no matter how unpleasant he was in the classroom and out of it.

"Please tell me," he said as he walked closer to his desk where she was sitting. "Who gave you the permission to sit behind my desk?"

"No one," she said, setting the book down on the desk and flashing him a large mischievous grin. "This desk just makes me feel more in charge, and helps the students recognize that I am superior to them. You wouldn't want the children running amuck just because they don't take me seriously now do you."

"I'm sure that they will see you as a superior if you are either behind my desk or yours," he told her. "And the idea that the children would run wild with you around is almost laughable. So next time you give a detention, keep away from my desk."

"Why are you so adamant that I'm not near your desk?" Ella asked.

"Because I don't want you looking through my things," he replied.

"What, do you have something hiding in your desk that you're afraid that I will find," she wiggled her eyebrows at him suggesting that she meant something dirty.

Severus just looked at her in indifference, pretending like he had not heard her innuendo. Instead, he just held out his hand in front of her.

"What do you want?" she asked confused. "I swear I really didn't find anything in your desk."

"Not that!" he barked at her. "The book that you were reading a few minutes ago, I need it."

"Why?" she questioned, now putting her hands on it so he couldn't take it away.

"I am reading it and would like to finish it, that's why."

"Well I am sorry, but I am reading it now. You can have it when I am finished."

"Don't test me," he told her in a low menacing voice. "We all know how long it takes you to finish a book."

"Well maybe next time you will be more careful about what books you have lying around," she told him, picking up the book from the desk as he tried to swipe it. "You know how I am. When I find a book that I like, it's hard for me to put it down since I rarely actually find anything that is interesting enough for me to read."

He saw the determination on her face, and knew if he was ever going to finish his book within the next month, he was going to have to take drastic measures. He hated that he had to do this in front of students, but he had no other choice. Severus walked around the desk to his chair that Ella was sitting in and grabbed a hold of the other end of the book and pulled. It didn't budge from her strong grip. He knew it would be hard to pry it from her hands, but he had something that he could use against her.

"Just give the damn book back to me," he said, pulling even harder.

"No," she said firmly, keeping a tight grip on the book.

"You leave me no other choice," he warned, and leaned in closer to her.

Ella didn't loosen her hold, but having him so close to her was a little disconcerting. 'What was he going to do?' she question herself as he came closer and closer. Before she knew it, they were both almost nose to nose both glaring at each other intensely. And then he did it, and Ella was taken completely by surprise.

She couldn't stop it, it was just too much. She laughed out loud while Severus tickled her side, which eventually made her loosen her hold on the book and he was able to finally pull it away from her.

"You evil man," Ella told him as he stopped tickling her.

"Yes I am," he said, giving her a triumphant look and walking away with his book in his hands. As he walked past the students and to the door he yelled at them saying, "Mind your own business and get back to work!"

Ella looked up and saw that they all stopped what they were doing just to watch her and Severus fight over a book. Shocked looks were all upon their small faces.

"You heard the man, get to work!" she yelled at them, frustrated that Severus still remembered that she was extremely ticklish.

As he was walking out, before he closed the door, Severus winked at her, which only made her even angrier.

It wasn't long after Severus and Ella's scene in the potions classroom that all the students were done with their assigned detentions, and were dismissed with Ella explaining to all of them how lucky they were that they all didn't get expelled and instead had a simple detention with her. Hermione and Neville both promised themselves to never get in trouble again, while Harry, Ron, and Draco pretended like they were listening to what she was saying, but really it was just going in one ear and out the other.

It was as they walked out of the classroom that Ron finally got to say what he was thinking.

"That was really weird," he explained to Harry, but loud enough that the others could hear as well. "How can she stand being anywhere near that greasy git? He's the nastiest person I have ever seen in my life with his sneers and his always taking points from Gryffindor."

"What I find strange is," Hermione put her two-sense in. "If he dislikes Gryffindor so much, why doesn't he seem to hate Ella."

"What do you mean?" Neville asked.

"Well," she said. "You do know she was a Gryffindor when she was here at Hogwarts."

"No kidding," Ron said.

"I also heard some of the other teachers talking about it, and apparently they were really close while she was here as a student."

"Really," Ron seemed to be really interested in this. "Maybe there's like some kind of thing going on between them. Wouldn't that be disgusting?"

"There isn't," Harry finally spoke for the first time that night. "There really good friend's, and that's all."

"And how do you know this Potter," Draco opened his mouth, which surprised the others when they heard him speak, not at all expecting him to still be walking with them.

"She had told me herself," he explained. "But really it shouldn't be shocking that they are close. She is very passionate about potions, maybe even more than Snape."

"Maybe," Ron replied.

That was the end of their conversation as the four Gryffindor's made their way up out of the dungeons and Draco made his way to the Slytherin common room.

It was a week later and Severus and Ella were coming down the stairs from the Headmasters office. Supposedly there were more unicorn attacks in the forbidden forest, and the Headmaster was getting concerned about the safety of the creatures. He asked Ella if she would go and talk to Bane and see what he was doing about the situation. He had asked Severus to go with her because he was not just about to send his granddaughter out in the forbidden forest with Voldemort on the loose without any kind of protection. Ella just scoffed and rolled her eyes at her grandfather's overprotectiveness.

As they were walking down they saw Harry and Ron walking up the stairs with what looked to be a broom that was wrapped in brown packaging. They were with Hermione who seemed to not be very pleased about the broom that was in Harry's hand, and walked away from them with her nose stuck up in the air. The scene was very comical to Ella and she couldn't help but snort in laughter when she saw it. Severus just shook his head at her obvious absurdity.

"I see you got your broom Harry," was how Ella greeted him as they finally crossed paths on the stairs. "What model is it?"

"A Nimbus Two Thousand," Ron said excitedly, almost like it was he who had gotten the broom and not Harry.

"I just bought mine two months ago," she told the both of them. "It fly's really great."

"You have one too," Ron eyes seem to pop out of his head and he stared up at her in awe.

"Yeah," she said. "I have quite a few brooms. I like to collect them; it's a hobby of mine."

Both Harry and Ron looked at her like she was the most amazing and fascinating person in the world. Ron was starting to think that he might be in love.

"Yes, we are all excited for you Mr. Potter," Severus spoke up with distain in his voice, looking at Harry like he was vermin. "Let's just hope that you can fly as well as everyone is saying, or you might just be knocked off that broom of yours."

Professor Snape brought both boys back to reality. Ron was seething in anger and so was Harry at Snape's words. Severus just seemed to be satisfied with what he said, and started walking down the stairs again.

"Don't mind him boys," Ella reassured the both of them. "Professor Snape is just not a very social person; he didn't really mean what he said about you being knocked off your broom Harry."

"I really don't know how you can stand being around him and also be his friend as well," Harry said, looking behind him and glaring at the retreating back of Snape. "He's absolutely horrible."

"I guess 'you' can say that," she said, also watching Severus leave down the stairs. "But you don't know him like I do. Now that I think about it, no one really does."

"Well I think he is a real git," Ron said, forgetting that Ella was there.

"That's five points from Gryffindor Mr. Weasley," Ella said, extremely upset that students still called Severus such awful things. "I don't want to hear you calling anymore of your teachers such terrible names. Now, good day to the both of you, and enjoy the broom Harry."

Ella walked away in a very cloudy mood, and Harry recognized how hurt she was by Ron's comment about Snape.

"Maybe you shouldn't have said that in front of her," Harry told his best friend as they made their way back up again to the Gryffindor common room.

"Well he is," was all Ron replied, not at all caring that he had pained Ella. "The sooner she realizes it, the better for her."

Harry just couldn't believe how oblivious Ron was to the feelings of others around him. He seemed to not care about anything but how he felt. But Harry guessed that was just Ron, and decided to let it go.

Two months of school has now passed and Ella couldn't believe it, it seemed like the time was passing by very fast. It was already Halloween, and breakfast that morning had been great with the smells of wonderful spices and all the pumpkin treats you could eat. She couldn't wait for the Halloween feast imagining all the great food there was going to be.

The past few weeks she had been keeping busy, trying not to think too much about the Sorcerer's Stone. Whoever was trying to steal the Stone had not made their move yet, which was very unnerving. But she had promised both Severus and her grandfather that she would leave it up to them and stop worrying about things she didn't have to worry about. But she couldn't help not to worry. It wasn't that she didn't trust that they could take care of it, it was just that she didn't want them to get hurt trying to keep the Stone safe.

Ella was walking past students that had just got done with their classes when she overheard something that had her concerned.

"It's no wonder no one can stand her," Ella heard Ron say to Harry as the both of them pushed their way into the crowded corridor, "she's a nightmare, honestly."

She saw as Hermione knocked into Harry and went past him in a hurry. She could see what looked like tears coming down her face.

"I think she heard you," Harry said, sounding like he wasn't sure what to think.

"So," Ron said, but he looked to be really uncomfortable. "She must've noticed she's got no friends."

Ella couldn't take it anymore; she was starting to get really annoyed with Ron. She knew the boy since he was a baby, she even changed his diapers. There was no way she was going to sit around and let him treat people they way he has lately.

"Ronald Bilius Weasley!" Ella yelled his full name in front of all of the students, making them laugh at him. "You are lucky that I don't send your mother an owl with the way you have been behaving. Is this how you act at home?"

Ron couldn't seem to talk, his mouth was shut closed.

"Oh, now you don't have anything to say," she said. "Well if you don't clean up your act and start treating people with more respect, I will tell your mother. You are forgetting that I talk to her at least once a week."

Ron just nodded his head, and Ella was satisfied that she had finally got to him in some kind of way, even though it was with a threat.

"That's enough," she told the other students who were still laughing. "Move along and get to where you need to go. There's nothing else to see here."

Ella took the rest of the day off trying to find Hermione. She looked everywhere but couldn't find the poor girl. As she made her way to the Halloween feast in the Great Hall, she was upset to find that Hermione wasn't there. Severus picked up on her bad mood as she sat down next to him and asked her with caution if he had done something wrong again. She just laughed at him and replied with a no he had not done anything to vex her.

"It's Hermione Granger," she told him.

"Oh, that little twit."

"Severus, not today please?" she asked of him.

"Fine," he replied with a sneer. "What did the silly girl do that has got you so overworked?"

"It's not what she did, it's more like what someone did to her. Ron Weasley said some harsh things that distressed her and now she can't be found."

"Of course it would be that stupid boy," he said, not at all amazed that it had something to do with the youngest Weasley boy. "He doesn't have a single ounce of sense in his body. Is that why you weren't in class today, you were busy looking for Ms. Granger."

"Well I figured someone had to do it," she explained to him the reason for her absence. "We can't have some distraught student running around the castle, who knows what kind of trouble she could get herself into since she is not in the right of state of mind."

"So, I'm guessing that you didn't find her since I do not see her here tonight."

Ella shook her head.

Ella was just going to take a bite of her dinner when Quirrell came running in the hall looking disgruntled and saying, "Troll – in the dungeons – thought you ought to know."

As he fainted to the ground, all of the students started to panic shouting in fright.

Ella grabbed a hold of Severus and told him, "Hermione, she might be in danger."

"You go take care of that, I need to take care of something."

"Where are you going?" she asked him, but he was gone before he could answer her.

She herself hurried up off her seat and went running out the Great Hall as students were being sent back to the common rooms with their Prefects. She decided to ask one of the first year Gryffindor girls if they knew where she could possibly find Hermione. She told her that she was crying in one of the girl bathrooms, but didn't specify which one it was. There were two bathrooms that Ella could think of where she could be, but wasn't sure which one, so she decided she would just have to go and look in both of them. She made her way through the right and went passed a few corridor's until she made her way to the bathroom, but when she looked around and called out Hermione's name, she realized that she was not there and most likely in the other bathroom. She was now alert because she specifically remembered hearing the idiotic thoughts of the troll coming from that way.

In a hurry she rushed out of the bathroom and made her way back to where she started and went left this time. Going past a few corridors, she met up with some of the other Professor's hurrying to the girl's bathroom. As they made it there, they saw the large troll passed out on the ground of the girl's bathroom with Harry and Ron standing over it, and Hermione looking frightened in the other corner. Severus looked over at Ella to get confirmation that the creature would not be getting back up.

"He's knocked out," she assured them all, as she wasn't able to hear any more of the troll's insistent stupid thoughts.

"What on earth were you thinking of?" Professor McGonagall questioned them all with fury in her voice. Ron had his hand with his wand raised above his head in the air. "You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitory?"

Ella looked at the children in horror, while Severus gave Harry a piercing looking. Harry looked on the floor and wished Ron would put his hand down.

But before Professor McGonagall could say anything else, a small shaky voice spoke up.

"Please Professor McGonagall – they were looking for me."

"Miss Granger?" the Professor questioned her favorite student with wide-eyes.

Hermione got up onto her feet, though a little wobbly.

"I went looking for the troll because I – I thought I could deal with it on my own – you know, because I've read all about them."

Ella knew what the girl was saying was wrong, but didn't open her mouth to correct her. Neither did Severus, who she had told during dinner what had happened between Harry, Ron and Hermione, which she was thankful for.

"If they hadn't found me, I would be dead now. Harry stuck his wand up its nose and Ron knocked it out with its own club. They didn't have time to come and fetch anyone. It was about to finish me off when they arrived."

Hermione was very convincing that it was all her fault, and the Professor believed every word of what she said.

"Well – in that case…" said Professor McGonagall, staring down the three of them. "Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own?"

Hermione looked quite upset that she was being reprimanded by her favorite Professor. Harry and Ron looked shocked by how Hermione stuck up for them, especially since it was their faults she was in the bathroom in the first place. Ella hoped that this experience would humble the boys and make them see the consequences of their actions.

"Five points will be taken away from Gryffindor because of this Miss. Granger," Professor McGonagall looked at her with disappointment. "I have never been so let down by a student before. If you are not hurt, I suggest you go back to the Gryffindor tower."

As Hermione passed by, Ella patted the girl on her shoulder and gave her a look that said 'I know you lied, but you did a good job'. Hermione gave her a smile and made her way back to the Gryffindor common rooms.

"As for you two," Professor McGonagall looked at Harry and Ron. "You are very lucky, not many first years could have taken on a full-grown mountain troll. You each win five points for Gryffindor. But Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. Now, you two can go."

As the boys left, all of them stared down at the troll wonder what they should do with the nasty creature.

"I'm sure you can take care of this Quirrell," Severus said with a devious smile upon his face. "You are the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher after all."

"Yes, of course," the man seemed to shake in his boots at the thought of going anywhere near the troll.

"Good," Professor McGonagall said. "I will leave to inform the Headmaster."

As Severus and Ella left the bathroom along with Minerva, Ella noticed that Severus was limping and asked in concern, "Severus, what is wrong with your leg. Did you get hurt?"

"Not here," he told her in a harsh whisper.

Ella kept silent about his leg as they made their way down to the dungeons. She had to help him a few times down the stairs or he would have fell. It was only once they were safe inside Severus quarters and she helped him sit down that Ella asked him anything.

"What happened?" she asked, as she bent down next to his leg so she could check it. He had a nasty gash and as she saw it she gasped in shock.

"It was that oaf's stupid beast," he said, watching as Ella examined his leg.

"Fluffy," she said. "Why in the world would you even think about going anywhere near him without me there?"

"Shit!" he hissed as she tested out his leg to see if it was broken. "Don't do that."

"Stop being a baby," she told him. "It definitely broken, and since I can't mend bones, it looks like you will have to see Madame Pomfrey."

"I'm not going to the hospital wing," he said with authority that he rarely ever used with her.  
"Well then," she said, completely ignoring the way he talked to her. "If you don't want to see her, then that just means it's going to have to heal the natural way. A lot of healers would be horrified by this, but I believe that the natural way is better in the long run. Let me get some things and I will clean it and warp it up for you."

"Ella," he called her name as she was about to leave for the potions lab to get what she needed, since Severus always kept a first aid kit in there just in case an accident should ever happen.

"Yes," she said looking back at him."

"Thank you."

She just smiled at him and said, "Your welcome."

**Sorry if the end feels rushed, my mother came back home and her life's goal is to bug the hell out of me. I can never write with her around, she always asks me to do things for her and then she burst's into the room loudly and opens the window and blinds, which makes it hard for me to see the screen of the computer. Like just right now she came to ask me to do the dishes for her. It's really frustrating. I love her, but she knows that I need to concentrate when I'm writing. She can't wait a few minutes for me to finish.**


	22. Chapter 21: Let's Play Some Quidditch!

Chapter 21: Let's Play Some Quidditch!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, all rights belong to J. K. Rowling.**

**AN: Since this one is supposed to be short, I decided I would try to finish it a lot earlier then I usually do. I really think I'm making up for all those months that I wasn't able to post anything. So you can expect me to post up my chapters as soon as I'm finished with them.**

Changing and Chances Book 1

It was now November, and like always around this time of year, it was very cold. Ella was starting to get grumpy about living down in the dungeons; she could barely sleep at night because her room felt near below zero. Talking to her grandfather got her nowhere, she asked him if she could move somewhere else less freezing since she didn't do too well being cold all the time, but of course he told her there was no way of moving her. She knew it was just another one of his excuses, by now she knew that she was never going to get the honest truth from him.

Since talking to her grandfather didn't work, instead she decided she would take her anger out on Severus. She yelled at him for deciding that he much preferred the dungeons over any other warm place in the castle. It wasn't fair because he seemed completely unaffected by the cold. Ella really was starting to believe the rumors that he was a vampire were true. When she told him this, he just laughed deeply and scoffed at her for believe such ridiculous things. He informed her that if she was so cold, she should have told him. He handed her a bottled phial and told her to drink it before she went to bed. She did as he told, but not before checking and making sure it wasn't one of his jokes, and as soon as she swallowed the substance, she was instantly warm all over.

So this was his secret, a warming potion. How did she not know about this before? Most importantly, why didn't he tell her about it sooner?

Another great thing besides the wonderful warming potion Severus had introduced her to was that Harry, Ron and Hermione were now getting along. She couldn't be more pleased about this revelation; she could see that the three really balanced each other out. Sure she saw Hermione and Ron getting into little spats here and there, but Harry seemed to be a good mediator between the both of them.

All was going well so far, there was no more unicorn killings after Ella had talked to Bane, and no more attempts of stealing the Stone. Severus's leg was a different story though, it seemed like it would be taking some time to finally heal. But that didn't get her down, it was now finally Quidditch season, and on Saturday the Gryffindors and Slytherins will be battling it out to see who will be in second place. Ella was very excited, and even though Severus didn't openly admit it, she knew that he was excited about the game as well.

Many students came up to her and asked her if she would be rooting for Gryffindor or Slytherin, and she was sure that many of them thought she would say Gryffindor since she herself was on the Gryffindor team back when she was at Hogwarts. She disappointed them though by saying that she was not cheering for one team or the other, but that she just wanted to see an interesting game. Severus overheard her say this and raised his brow at her in a way that said that he knew deep down she really was rooting for Gryffindor.

It was the day before the Quidditch match, Severus and Ella decided to go for a walk in the courtyard to get some fresh air. Ella was complaining to Severus that he hasn't been taking it easy and that his leg wouldn't heal right if he kept staining himself. He just ignored her and instead he watched the students that were outside for break, he was making sure they weren't getting into any kind of trouble. He spotted Harry, Ron and Hermione, and it looked to him like they were trying to hide something as they saw both him and Ella passing by. He started to make his way over to them with Ella following along asking him where he was going in such a hurry and to be careful or his wound would start bleeding again. She saw that he was heading towards were Harry and his friends were hanging out. She just sighed as she knew he was only going over there to claim that the three of them were starting trouble, and then he would take points away from Gryffindor for no good reason.

"What's that you got there, Potter?" he asked, and Ella just rolled her eyes at his predictability.

Harry showed Snape the book that he had in his hands, which was _Quidditch Through the Ages._

"Library books are not to be taken outside the school," Snape told him sternly, while in the background Ella just scoffed at his horrible lying skills. "Give it to me. Five points from Gryffindor."

As Severus and Ella walked away, Ella couldn't help but comment.

"You made that up didn't you."

"So," said Severus giving her his 'I don't care' stare.

"Nothing," she said as she held up her hands in defense. "I was just going to say that next time you want to take points away from Harry, try not to make it look so obvious."

He had a look about him like some random person came up to him and hugged him, Ella couldn't help but laugh.

Much later in the evening Ella, Severus and Filch were in the teachers' lounge. Ella needed to change Severus's wrappings since he opened up the wound once again and his leg was bleeding. She would have liked it better if Filch wasn't there because he always made her skin crawl, but he had insisted that he stay and help. Of course Snape was Flich's favorite Professor at Hogwarts; they both couldn't stand the students and would purposely take points away or give them detention. Snape was the only one besides Flich that the student's couldn't stand, and the only person besides the Headmaster that you would see him talking to. So while Flich went to go get her some knew bandages so she could wrap up his leg, she checked his wounds to make sure they weren't getting infected.

"Blasted thing," Snape complained again about Fluffy, which was every time she changed his wrappings. "How are you supposed to keep your eyes on all three heads at once?"

"By not going anywhere near the thing," she scolded him as she cleaned the wound making him wince a little from the sting of the potion. "I don't know what you were thinking Severus."

Both of their heads shot up quickly as they heard the door shutting quietly.

"POTTER!"

Ella jumped not at all prepared for Severus to yell so loud. His face was one of fury; she was sure she had never seen him so angry. Harry stood by the door, and Snape instantly dropped his rob to cover his hurt leg.

"I was just wondering if I could have my book back," Harry said in a quiet and shaky voice.

"GET OUT! OUT!"

Harry didn't bother to stay for one more second; he was out of the door before you could blink.

It took Severus a few seconds to settle himself down, and when he finally did, he looked down at Ella and saw that she was as white as a ghost. His face instantly fell and he felt a deep pang as he saw the look of fear upon her face. She didn't move for a few seconds not knowing what to do with herself, but when she finally did, she got up from the chair she was sitting on, grabbed the book that he had taken from Harry and left the lounge. Severus just stood there feeling like the biggest arse in the world.

Ella calmed herself down a little before going after Harry to make sure he was fine. She was taken completely by surprise by Severus anger. Usually she knew when Severus was going to blow, and she would either prepare herself for his wrath or she would leave the room. Never before had she seen him that way, he had genuinely frightened her. Of course she knew he was not going to hurt her, but for one second, she saw a look inside Severus eyes that was directed at Harry that made her wonder if he was going to kill him.

She finally was able to catch up to Harry. He looked to be a little shook up but he didn't seem as frightened as she thought he would be. It was probably all those years of dealing with Uncle Vernon yelling at him that made it less alarming to be shouted out in such a way.

"Hey," she told him, putting her hand on his shoulder. "Are you going to be alright?"

"Yeah," he said, looking up at her face and seeing that she was pale. 'Was she afraid of Snape?' Harry wondered.

"Here," she handed him the book that Severus had taken away from him early that day. "Next time, please come to me if you want something back that Severus had taken from you. You should have known better then to go and ask him, he would have never given it back to you."

"What was wrong with his leg?" Harry asked, too busy think of Snape's mauled leg to listen to what she was saying. "Was it that three-headed dog that's behind that door on the third floor that did that to him?"

"You know that I can't tell you that," she told him. "I thought I told you to stop asking so many questions. It's really best for you if you forget what you saw behind that door and what you saw in the teachers' lounge."

He seemed to want to ask her more, but she cut him off by asking him if he was going to be fine, and when he said yes, she told him he best get going back up to his dormitory. As she watched Harry leave up the stairs and disappear, she left to go for a walk in the grounds so she wouldn't have to see Severus for a while.

Ella decided to visit Hagrid, and while she was having a really pleasant talk with him about dragons, she had no idea that up in the Gryffindor common room Harry was telling Ron and Hermione all that had happened.

They all began to realize that whatever that three-headed dog was guarding, it must be important, and it seemed like Snape wanted it. Why else would he risk getting hurt? They figured that he was probably the one that let in the troll during Halloween so he could sneak off and try to steal it without anyone knowing. But there was one part that they weren't sure about. Was Ella in on this scheme of his, and if she was, was she being forced to be a part of it or did she really want to help him.

As Ella came back to the dungeons, she saw that Severus was up waiting for her. He was sitting in one of the chair next to the fireplace with a glass of firewhiskey in his hand. He looked up when he saw her come through the door from the potions lab. They just stared at each other for a few minutes, and Ella saw the stress he was experiencing upon his face. She quietly walked over to the chair that was next to his and sat down.

"I…" he was about to say, but she cut him off.

"Don't you even dare apologize to me," she told him. "It is not me that deserves that apology, but Harry."

"You know very well that I could never do such a thing," he said, almost vexed that she had brought such a thing up.

"I know," she understood how he felt about Harry.

"I should not have acted in that sort of manner in front of you," he said sincerely. "It was completely barbaric of me."

"No, you shouldn't have acted in that way at all. He just a boy Severus, you are an adult. How many times do I have to tell you that this isn't James and you anymore? Ever since Harry was put on the Gryffindor Quidditch team as their Seeker, you have been acting much curlier to him than usual. I know that you are acting this way because James was also the Seeker of the Gryffindor team and seeing him riding that broom brought back some unfriendly memories. Do you deny this?"

"No, I don't."

"I don't mind you taking points away from him for whatever reason you can find, give him detention any possible moment you can, and come up with a way to take away his things away from him, but I refuse to stand around and see you taking all the anger you had for his father out on him. Please Severus, understand that he gets enough of that at his aunt and uncles, he doesn't need it here at Hogwarts, the only place in the world that feels like a home to him."

"You don't think I haven't tried," he explained to her. "Do you not understand that I have tried not to be so harsh? But every time I see that boys face…"

"It reminds you of James," she nodded her head, because she herself understood where he was coming from. "Well if that's how it is, don't look at his face, look at his eyes. He's hers too Severus, and there is no doubt about that. It doesn't matter that he has your worst enemy's blood flowing through him. What matters is he has hers as well."

He looked at Ella and saw how genuinely she wanted to see him be kinder to the boy, and it hurt him to know that it wasn't something that was possible for him to accomplish.

"I'm going to bed," she told him getting up off the chair and heading to the door of her room. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Even hours after she had gone to bed, Severus sat in that chair knowing he was not going to get any sleep that night. What Ella said to him did have some truth to it, and he decided he would go easier on the boy. Not for Lily or anyone else, but for Ella.

* * *

The next day was extremely cold, Ella made sure she bungled herself up in warm clothes, she wanted to enjoy the Quidditch game not turn into a frozen statue because she was too stupid to put on the proper attire. As she walked out of her room after getting ready for the day, she greeted Severus and he greeted her back with his usual nod. She was glad things hadn't changed because of what happened the other day, it seemed like all was forgiven and forgotten.

As they passed through the Great Hall for breakfast, Ella greeted Harry.

"Good luck today, Harry," she said, and then bent down close to his ear and whispered. "Don't listen to anyone else, because I know for a fact that you are going to be great today."

She got up and was about to walk away but was shocked to see Severus giving Harry one of his usual curt nods. As they started walking, Ella almost tripped over herself because she was so stumped at what she had just seen. Severus grabbed ahold of her just in time before she fallen and embarrassed herself in front of everyone. But it seemed like she wasn't the only one who was surprised by Severus's actions, she was sure she saw Harry's, Ron's and Hermione's jaws dropping to the floor.

"What was that all about?" she asked him as they sat down to eat. Her eyes were opened wide and a confused look was upon her face.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said, pretending like he didn't know what she was talking about and started eating his breakfast and reading the paper. He also ignored her staring throughout the rest of breakfast. There was no way he was going to admit to being civil towards James Potter's son, not even to Ella.

* * *

At Eleven o'clock, Ella and Severus made down towards the Quidditch field and up to the stands that the Professors occupied. Ella was bouncing the entire way there, excited even in the freezing cold. She had her binoculars' in one of her gloved covered hands and a smile on her face that was as large as the Sun. Severus didn't pay much mind to Miss. Happy next to him, he walked with indifference like he always did, well except with the limp. Sure, he enjoyed watching Quidditch, but he didn't see why he had to openly show it to everyone. Now Ella, she was really getting into the spirit of the game. With her red coat, gold stockings, green gloves and silver scarf, she was ready to show everyone that she loved Quidditch and supported both teams. But Severus knew that by the time the game started, she would be mostly cheering on Gryffindor.

As they sat down, Professor McGonagall looked at the green and silver colors that Ella was wearing and stuck her nose up in the air pretending like she didn't just see one of her Gryffindor's in Slytherin colors. Ella tried to keep a laugh in when she saw the look on her old Head of Houses face when she saw what she was wearing. It was just priceless and completely worth wearing the Slytherin colors.

"What's with the serious look Severus?" she asked, as she saw that he wasn't showing any kind of excitement towards the game as some of the other Professors were. "You're not already bored, are you?"

"Just because I'm not as ostentatious as you are towards the enjoyment of this game," he explained to her. "That does not mean I am not as eager to watch this match as you are."

"Of course, what was I thinking," she said in a sarcastic tone. "You're obvious blank look is a sign that you can't wait for the game to begin."

"Don't you give me cheek," he said, but couldn't help but grin at her mocking remark and how it was just like something he would have said himself.

As the players came out onto the field, everyone began to cheer. Ella was sure by the end of the game her voice would be completely gone, but she didn't mind, it was fun to yell, scream and cheer. When Severus just sat there not even clapping as the Slytherins came out, Ella started to poke him.

"Knock that off," he barked at her, brushing her hand away from him.

"Sorry, just seeing if you turned into a block of ice or not. I guess not."

"Are you going to be make comments like that throughout the entire game?"

"Yes, if you don't at least clap for your team. Now stop being a stick in the mud and have some fun. I swear you're worse than Professor Trelawney. At least she doesn't come to the games because she knows that she isn't going to have a good time. Why are you here anyways, to make this great event here at Hogwarts completely and totally boring?"

He went close to her face and looked her straight in the eye, "One of these day's I'm going to drag you somewhere you don't like and talk on and on in your ear about how you are sucking all the fun. Then you will see how annoying you truly can be. Don't worry about me, when my team wins, I will be sure to rub it in yours and Minerva's face."

"How rude," she said, and decided it was best that she had kept her mouth shut and just watch the game.

As Ella directed her eyes towards the Quidditch field, she was upset to find out that she had missed part of the beginning because she was too busy mocking Severus. But it looked like it was going good so far for Gryffindor; they had the Quaffle at the moment. Lee Jordan was doing the commentary, and Ella couldn't help but wonder who had given him that job, but was relieved to see that Professor McGonagall was keeping a close eye on him and making sure he didn't say anything he shouldn't.

"That's Chaser Katie Bell of Gryffindor there, nice dive around Flint, off up the field and – Ouch – that must have hurt, hit in the back of the head by a Bludger."

Ella closed her eyes as she saw the poor girl get hit hard, it brought back memories of when she herself was a Chaser and got hit many times by Bludgers, that was the only part about Quidditch she didn't enjoy. But she was never hit in the head before, and she was thankful for that because it didn't look at all pleasant.

Adrian Pucey, one of the Slytherin Chasers had the Quaffle now and was heading straight to the goal, but he was blocked by Fred who hit it a Bludger towards him. Angelina Johnson now had possession of the ball, and like a true Chaser she went racing to the Slytherin goal blocking a Bludger and then scoring for Gryffindor.

Every Gryffindor cheered loudly, including Ella who probably shouted even louder than Minerva. Over the loud cheers you could hear the Slytherin's groan and boo.

"Yes," said Severus to Ella as the cheers died down. "You are not biased at all."

She just glared at him and went back to watching the game, determined to ignore him for the rest of the match.

She just glared at him and went back to watching the game, determined to ignore him for the rest of the match.

Ella looked up at Harry to see what he was up to, but she had to look through her binoculars because he was so tiny. It looked like he wasn't doing too badly, but he hadn't spotted the Snitch yet. She became tense when a Bludger came rushing towards him, but he dodged it and Fred went after it and hit it towards Flint.

"Slytherin in possession," Lee said. "Chaser Pucey ducks two Bludgers, two Weasleys, and Chaser Bell, and speeds toward the – wait a moment – was that the Snitch?"

Everyone seemed to stop what they were doing and tried to find the Snitch. Adrian Pucey dropped the Quaffle because he was too busy staring at the small gold ball that had just flew past his left ear.

Harry saw it and in excitement dived down after the Snitch. It seemed like Terence Higgs Slytherins Seeker saw it too and went to dive for it like Harry. They both hurtled down head to head, but it was obvious to see that Harry was much faster. All the Chasers stopped what they were doing to watch both of the Seekers.

As Harry came close to getting the Snitch, Marcus Flint hurried and blocked Harry from capturing it and Harry went spinning away holding onto his broom for dear life. There was a commotion with the Gryffindors shouting out foul, but you could hear some of the Slytherins approval of what Marcus had done by cheering him on and getting angry when the Gryffindor's got a free shot.

"I am so glad I gave that ugly little shite detention," Ella said with a sneer in her voice.

"When was that?" Severus asked, not remembering her ever giving Marcus detention.

"Last month when I overheard him say some derogatory words about one of the girls," she told him. "I never thought I would see someone so frightened of me."

She laughed and while Snape couldn't help but grin.

Lee Jordan seemed to be taking sides, which only got him in trouble with Professor McGonagall.

"All right, all right. Flint nearly kills the Gryffindor Seeker, which could happen to anyone, I'm sure, so a penalty to Gryffindor, taken by Spennet, who puts it away, no trouble, and we continue play, Gryffindor still in possession."

Ella began to watch Harry again, worried that something else would happen, but for the time being it seemed like he was fine, other than almost being hit in the head by one of the Bludgers. But all of a sudden, Ella saw his broom give jerk and it looked like he was about to fall, but he gripped the broom and was able to keep on. At first Ella just thought he might have did something wrong, but when it happened again and much more forcefully then the last time, she knew that something was going on. He was bucking around wildly like the broom was trying to force him off.

"Severus," Ella said in a high pitched voice, grabbing onto his coat hard.

He heard the sound of terror in her voice and took his eyes off the game just as the Slytherins scored and looked over to where Ella was staring at Harry who was being flung off his broom by some unknown force.

"Is someone jinxing his broom?" she asked him, but he didn't reply back because he was already doing a counter jinx to try and save Harry's life.

Dread was flowing through Ella as she saw Harry barely hanging on. She realized that someone in the stands was trying to kill Harry, and it couldn't be one of the students because this kind of magic was way too advanced for them. It look like the only possibility was that someone was hiding and putting a curse on his broom, or it was one of the adults in the stand that she was in. She looked around to see if she could find anyone suspicious, but there was no one person that caught her intrest. Whoever it was was likely to be the same person who was trying to steal the Stone. It was like she had thought before; Voldemort was using someone to do his bidding, who else would want to get rid of Harry so bad that he would actually do it in front of a whole crowd. She prayed that whatever Severus was doing would work and Harry would be safe.

All of a sudden Ella smelt something burning and looked down to see that Severus's cloak was on fire.

"Severus!" she said. "You're on fire."

He looked down taking his eyes off Harry and jumped up off his seat. Ella saw as a small hand scooped the fire into the jar and leave quickly. At first she thought it was the culprit she was looking for, but then she saw the large head of frizzy curls and knew that it wasn't who she was looking for.

Ella decided she would figure out why Hermione was setting Severus's cloak on fire later, but right now the only important thing was that Harry was safe.

When she looked back up at him though, he seemed to be fine and on his broom again. She saw him speed towards the ground, and then clap his hands around his mouth like he was going to be sick. He hit the floor on his hands and knees, and coughed up what looked to be a small gold ball with wings.

"I've got the Snitch," he said out loud, waving it in the air.

Ella sat down and sighed loudly in relief that he was alright. But then it slowly dawned on her that this was really close, that he could have been severely hurt or worse, dead. This was the last straw for her. Sure she was worried about the Stone getting into the wrong hands, but Harry was much more important than some Stone. She left quickly, not at all caring that the Gryffindor's had won, and made her way all the way to her grandfather's office with Snape following right behind her.

"That's it," she said barging into the Headmasters office without even knocking, but it wasn't like she hadn't done it before. "I am through of this whole walking on egg shells thing both you and Severus think is a great idea, what we need now is action."

"If I may say my dear," her grandfather told her. "What is it that you are trying to say?"

Ella couldn't seem to say the words, Harry, hurt and die all in the same sentence, so Snape decided to intervene.

"Just a few minutes ago at the Gryffindor and Slytherin Quidditch game, Harry had a close encounter with death. Someone was obviously jinxing his broom to throw him off. I tried the best I could to counter this jinx which might I say was very difficult."

"I see," Dumbledore said, pinching his nose in thought. "Well, I don't see that we can really do anything unless we knew who it was that put the curse on Harry's broom."

"What!" Ella said enraged. "You can speed up all of this by questioning each and every one of your staff member's. You can question me as well if you wish, I don't care I just want to find this person quick. They are a danger not only to the whole school, but to Harry especially."

"I'm sorry Ella, but that is way past what I can do. To actually invade the privacy of my staff, some who have been here longer than I can remember. I just can't do that. I would lose all of their trust."

"It's always sorry with you," she said with tears coming down her eyes. "You never listen to me, you never even consider if what I am saying is the right way to go in a situation."

To help put the heat off of Dumbledore, not wanting to see the two of them fight since they were the only family that either of them really had; Severus grabbed ahold of Ella and hugged her to him.

"You listen to me," he told her. "I will conduct my own secret investigation into each of the staff members. It's less invasive and they won't suspect what I am doing. This is all going to be fine. We will find who is doing this."

"You promise," she looked up at him, and he was shocked to see how much she looked like when she was a child and looked to him for comfort.

"Yes, I promise," he told her, but not sure if it was the best thing to promise something he wasn't sure he was going to be able to keep.

**I really was hoping to finish this much earlier, but I got a headache and had to stop writing. Also I was too excited to write because I finally got my Kakashi plush doll in the mail.**

**I noticed that on the last chapter the beginning was in bold, and no matter how hard I tried to fix it, it wouldn't go away. So I hope that didn't annoy or confuse anyone, it was just a typo.**

**Now I won't be writing this whole weekend, so you might have to wait maybe a week for the next chapter. I don't know, I might be able to finish it much sooner than that, but I'll have to see how busy I am.**


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